Light in the box Shopping and Infanta Cinderella JSK REVIEW!

This is a review about my shopping experience with Lightinthebox.com and the items that I bought there!

I ordered my first Lolita outfit from Light-in-the box:

JSK - 89.99 USD

BLOUSE - 49.99 USD

OTKs - 7.99 USD

Package and insurance - 24.85 USD

Total - 172.82 USD

JSK, blouse and stockings

I placed my order the 11th August and received the items the 18th September (total 6 weeks).

The 12th September I received a funny email from Light in the Box, that the order was delayed and if I answered the email within 24 hours I would be refunded the postage that I had paid. 

Luckily I did see the email in time, so I did receive my refund, but what if I had missed this email? Would they just send the package late with no discount?

Good packaging. Cardboard box and plastic bag.

All items individually packed

The JSK. Shopping picture to left, actual received item to the right.

Infanta Cinderella Embroidery JSK

I was very pleased to receive my dress! It is just as beautiful as on the pictures and I got a chance to wear it to my first Lolita meet!

Good embroidery, good lace, matte gross grain ribbons and pretty detachable bows!

The details of this dress are absolutely stunning! The cloth of the dress is heavy and textured, which adds to the luxury feeling. The fit was accurate too.

Defintiely 5/5 for the JSK! For the very good value :)
The quality is 4/5 - because of the polyester lining (cotton, linen and silk materials would have been preferred), and a fairly good pattern matching, but it was slightly (0,5 cm) off at some parts.
But still, since it is a lovely Lolita dress to very good price, I think it deserves a 5/5.

The Blouse. Shopping picture to the left, actual received item to the right.

The Blouse

If the JSK was the great Heroine of my package, the blouse was the evil Nemesis...

I mean, look at the beautiful, crisp eggshell white blouse with amazing lace and great tailored fit - and then look at the piece of rags the dog dragged in?!

The blouse isn't the same as on the picture. It is plain ugly. First of all, it isn't the right shade of white, so it looks awful with the beige in the JSK. Secondly the blouse I thought that I bought has a different texture and lace to the blouse I received. Obviously I got the cheap boot leg copy of the most certainly stolen brand blouse photo on the left... *sigh*

I didn't recognise the photo from any brand, so I thought it was the real deal... and then I ended up with that...

The fit is AWFUL - I have carefully measured my body, ordered one size larger than usual and I have received a blouse that is 2 sizes too small?!

Total waste of money :( and it lead to a coordination crisis, since I needed a new blouse to match the JSK.

This is my first 1/5, mostly because I payed for a high quality blouse, and received a fake.

The Stockings.

The OTKs

The OTK's where perfectly alright, although it was difficult to discern the actual white hue from the picture on Light in the Box.

They dropped down when walking, but I've noticed that is very common amongst all OTK's.

The length was just above my knee, which is good with regard to my long legs and common Asian petite sizes...

So nothing extraordinary, they receive 3/5.

Overall review

As for my shopping experience at Light in the box, I would give them 2-3/5 Hazelbelle Nuts. I mean the JSK is absolutely stunning (5/5, since it is such good value!), but the blouse was positively horrifying (1/5). The stockings where alright (3/5). The prices at Light in the box are not that cheap, so don't fall for their "20% OFF" and "Today's Sales" - you can find better prices elsewhere and the "sales" are ongoing all the time!

If you find an Infanta dresses at Light in the Box (oddly enough, you can't search on Infanta, and it doesn't specify that the dress is actually from Infanta on the website) you may get good value.

However, before checking out they will ask if you want to buy insurance and stuff... I wouldn't dare to not tick that box, since they have all my money before I recieve the package... And that's just plain ol' mafia bullying.

I would actually NOT recommend Light in the Box. I would rather order from Taobaospree or such a Taobao shopping site, and order directly from the good Chinese Lolita brands, then at least you know what you are receiving. 

I'm struggling between giving Light in the Box 2 or 3 out of 5 Hazelbelle Nuts (cause I really love the Infanta JSK), but since they actually made me pay for a terribly ugly blouse that I didn't order, I am going to have to give them 2/5 nuts, as a warning for cheating with photos...

Light in the Box as an Internet seller: 2/5 - Delayed delivery, suspected stolen brand photos, sent wrong size.
Did the product match the selling photo? 3/5 - Yes and No. Yes for the JSK and the Stockings. Definitely No for the Blouse, I clearly did not receive the same blouse as on the picture and it was 2 sizes too small.
Quality: 3/5 - Nothing extraordinary. The Infanta JSK receivs 4/5 in quality.
Price compared to quality: 1/5 - Really awful that 1 out of 3 items is completely wrong and that I can't even wear it because it is too small :(

I DO NOT recommend this seller.

I've bought my first Lolita dress!

This is a BIG thing.

I practically really can't afford it... but who can wait for like forever to get your own first dress? (So there is a hole in my economy - but I'll try to sell some of my old stuff on Ebay to get more money! ;)

First and foremost, it has been so difficult to choose which Lolita style I want to belong to.
For me there are 3 big different Lolita "girly" styles: Goth, Sweet and Classic.
(Boy style and Aristocrat are not "girly")

I'm really not into black at the moment, so Goth was out of the question (even though there are some neat purple and red prints out there!)

Sweet is so wonderful! I love the Fairy Kei Lolita with lots of pastels...

But... when my browser eyes fell upon this beautiful Classic Lolita dress in Velvet Cream...

It was to die for - I just knew it when I saw it. 

That will be my first dress! :)

Infanta Pumpkin Carriadge Cinderella JSK 89.99 USD

Infanta is a Chinese Lolita Brand that comes in a variety of sizes and the brand shop is on Taobao (Chinese Ebay) (Link to Infantas shop on Taobao).

MissyTetra has several excellent posts and reviews on Infantas dresses - you can read them here. 

I am 176 cm long and I weigh 70 kg, and Infanta's size XL will fit me if I lose 1 or 2 kg's of water weight (no more sweets until I get that dress! ;) LOL) (I'm really an XXL according to their size guide, but they only sold this dress up to XL!)

Being that tall, I'm worried that the dress will be too short. When the dress arrives I'll see if I need a lengthening underskirt to go with it.

I chose to buy the dress from Light in the box, since taobao is so complicated. Tabao is cheaper (you can buy the same dress as I bought for only 498 yuan (81 USD), but you have to have a Chinese cell phone number to confirm the order. If you wish to buy from Taobao, you can use a shopping service - Hello Lace has a taobao guide if you wish to venture that.

I bought the dress from Light in the box, anyway. I have never ordered from them before, so I hope everything will go well!

I ordered a lace blouse and some stockings too.

Aristocrat Lolita Cotton Blouse 49.99 USD

It was important to me that the blouse and stockings are made of cotton, because I relly hate the feeling of cheap polyester against my skin!

Stockings cotton 30% off 7.99 USD

I actually started of looking at Ebay and Bodyline for my first Lolita dress. 

Bodyline is very cheap, but most of the clothes come in very small sizes - I have 2L or 4L even according to them, and very few items catered my size, so I was worried that maybe the items also would be to short. Bodyline seems mostly cater to Sweet, Gothic and Kuro Lolitas.

All Bodyline's blouses are made out of polyester by the way! That's a terrible material to have close to your skin. I'd never buy that material for a blouse. Cotton, linen, bamboo, silk - natural materials are the way to go!

On the other hand, Bodyline had a great line of very affordable shoes! It looked like it was the same items that were available at Light in the Box, but with 40 USD lower price!

So I bought these beauties from Bodyline:

Shoes 251 from Bodyline 40 USD (and 10 USD postage)

I usually always wear leather shoes, but both Peachie and Vanessa Lopa swear to the comfort of Bodylines shoes, so I have to give it a go! Plus the fact I couldn't find any Lolita style real leather shoes anyway...

I chose flats because I'm so tall, I really don't need to add more height :) And I think flats look really classy.

Ebay has a great Chinese Lolita seller: cosplay007. They have beautiful Lolita clothes for very cheap prices, and they tailor sew them especially for you! That is some good service :) They announce that they can make anything at all - so if you want to, you can design your own dress and send it over to them, and they will sew it for you. They have a wide range of fabrics and colours to choose from as well.

A quick google on cosplay007 gives different reviews - some love it (and they are willing to compromise quality for the low price) and some were very disappointed, because they had received the wrong colour etc.

I will give cosplay007 a shot in the future, because I would love to own a tailor made dress!

But for this first, I fell for Infantas beautiful dress :).

I bought a wig from Ebay. My hair is medium brown, so I chose a wig that is dark brown to add some variety. Having a fringe on your wig is great - because it looks more natural and if you have a different coloured wig from your eyebrows, you can cover your eyebrows with the fringe.

I chosed a classic wig look to complement my classic Lolita dress.

Dark Brown Wig from Ebay 8.54 USD

And of course I need a pretty bow!
I couldn't find a matching bow to the dress print anywhere on the internet (I think the Infanta dress print I chose is from last season). So I bought a bargain Velvet Big Bow from Ebay.

Cream White Velvet Bow from Ebay 4.99 USD

I also bought my bloomers from Ebay.

White bloomers with heart pocket approx. 24 USD (incl postage)

From the local Swedish thrift store - the Red Cross - I stumbled upon this darling real leather Grandma Handbag. It needs a little TLC and something Lolita added to it, but it cost only 30 SEK (4.6 USD)

Granny bag in real leather from the local thrift store - 4.6 USD

I'm thinking of adding some jewellery to my handbag: maybe something like this:

Classic lolita brown flower pearl tassel 18.99 USD

And my petticoat is from the Salvation Army, it cost 40 SEK (6.1 USD).

Petticoat from VILA found at the Salvation Army for 6.1 USD

So all in all, my whole first outfit cost me ca 1750 SEK or 269 USD. That is including postage and a parcel insurance for 5 USD at Taobao (Don't know if it was worth it, but I'm better safe than sorry!)

269 USD for the first Lolita outfit is rather cheap - Just to buy a lucky pack from a brand with perhaps 1 skirt or 1 blouse costs often even more. I could probably gotten a cheaper dress, but I'm not sure I would be happy with the quality.
So I feel very satisfied with the end costs!

I'll be even more satisfied when the mail comes with all my lovely new stuff! :D

And then I will post all the REVIEWS - of course! :D
<3 BIG HUGZ <3

Ps. Now I just have to get my paws on this one: Infanta's Cinderella Embroidery Coat! I LOVE!