☆ Dolly Darling Review! ☆ ♥Carousel Bunny Brooch♥

 Both of us love buying handmade, and just don't do it enough! Today we're reviewing dolly darling, a store that describes itself as having "cute & quirkiness at its very core", which definitely sounds like something that would appeal to us! Dolly Darling is well-known for these adorable deer headbands, and also for the adorable pastel fashion blog of its owner Georgina! The shop sells super cute pastel inspired accessories and plus size handmade clothing, all of which is handcrafted! 

Our order was for one of these pretty carousel animal pieces - in our case, the carousel bunny in a brooch form! I love bunnies, and both bunnies and carousels are such a prevalent motif in lolita, we though that it would mesh really well with our styles and with our wardrobe! The brooch itself is an original illustration (I really love the colours! they feel so pretty and soft, like an illustration in a children's book!) printed on laser cut wood. For £8 with free shipping, it was definitely a steal! 

We placed our order and paid on the 8th February, which was a Sunday, and although we didn't get any confirmation as to when our order was shipped it was with us on the Tuesday, which for free shipping is pretty darn quick! We didn't need to communicate in any way and the website was incredibly easy to navigate, so ten out of ten in every way for ease and quickness of the order! The brooch was shipped inside a bubble mailer, which was stamped with a dolly darling logo! I love it when stores have cute little factors like this so you can recognize a package as belonging to them! 

 

Inside the mailer, the brooch was in a little ziploc bag! It was very secure and safe and the brooch got to us in perfect condition. Also included were these sweet holographic Easter-themed sticker flakes, which was a nice touch! I know a few people who dislike getting "extras" in packages, but we are definitely not one of them! It's nice to think about the seller putting extra love and care into their wares.

As you can see, the wood isn't super thick, which means that it won't drag down lighter materials of cardigans and dresses! I have a vintage puzzle piece brooch made out of a very thick wood that can only be clipped onto thicker cardigans and jumpers, so this is a really nice weight! The brooch pin seems really well attached, although there were a few glue strands and a bit of overspill. These are totally covered when you're wearing the piece though, so it doesn't affect our enjoyment at all! As people who work with glue in our own work, we know how hard it can be to get everything totally perfect. 

The brooch itself is absolutely adorable. The pastel colours you see in the stock picture are dead-on for the brooch in real life, so you definitely won't be disappointed! The print is crisp and detailed and most importantly really really cute - I can't wait to put together outfits using this brooch in them! There are so many adorable tiny details (how cute is the bunny's little nose and collar? I'm in love!) and it's so beautifully drawn and made! 

All in all, our experience ordering from dolly darling was absolutely wonderful - the piece is well-made, got here in record time, and is going to look so cute worn with both our lolita wardrobe and our casual wardrobe (I'm already thinking up co-ord ideas using our Cinderella Bunny print!). I would definitely recommend buying from dolly darling if you're looking for something cute, kitschy, twee or anything in between those! I know that I am eyeing up this sweet embroidered kitten brooch for my ever growing brooch collection! 

 ✿Love,✿

♥Haz & Nat♥

★ ♥ AnimangaPOP haul! ♥ ★ (⊃ ´ω`)⊃♥⊂(´ω` ⊂)

This weekend we've been away at animangaPOP in Bristol, selling our kawaii shop's handmade wares! I realize we haven't really posted very much on here regarding our shop, but we're super excited to be running it and we love doing it! We sell kawaii handmade jewelry designed to be worn with J-Fashion, things we would be happy to wear ourselves! Here's a quick little link! 

I think one of the best things we found about selling at a convention was how lovely and supportive everyone else was! All of the other stall holders were so friendly and lovely, and we definitely overspent our budget! Oops. . .

We picked up some little Madoka blind boxes; one for Nat and one for a friend! 

The above are from the lovely Jessabel! A lot of the items on the left came from a lucky pack, and everything was super cute! The Lagoona print is definitely going up in our craft room! The stickers on the right (we are both so awfully tempted by every sticker set we see. . .) will probably end up on packages and penpal letters!  

All from the sweet Minty Kitty! Absolutely everything on her stall was so adorable, it was difficult to choose what to buy! I definitely want to get more prints and more keychains and more everything; I think we both went back to this stall about five different times! 

A quick summary of all the prints we got, featuring art by: Moonlily Illustration (appropriately, the cat girl on the moon!), Anastasia Catris (the girl with the muffins), Kavon Illustration (Elsa, Anna and Miku) and JammyScribbler (the adorable science cats illustration!).

To be honest, I've never really bought prints at conventions before - but when you're on the other side of the table, you suddenly start to get a lot more of an idea of exactly how much goes into manufacturing every single thing that's being sold, and it definitely gives you an appreciation of other handmade crafters and artists! I know that next time I go to a con, I'll definitely stop to look and purchase; and if you've never really thought about it, you should too! 

We also bought a couple of goodies from 8th Sin Creations; the rabbit brooch is a gift for a friend, but the rosette is for us! The girl running the stall also gave Haz 2 free pairs of earrings, which was super sweet!

I also bought a little Rilakkuma stapler as a gift! Cute stationery is the best kind, after all! 

All in all, we had a fabulous time at AnimangaPOP, bought some adorable crafts and met some lovely people! We definitely want to attend another Keep It Secret event in the near future, and it's given us a bit of a push to carry on exhibiting and selling at cons!

✿Love,✿

♥Haz & Nat♥

❤ ❤ Cute Can Kill Review! ❤ ❤ ♫ Star Lollipop and Fairy Glitter Ring! ♫

About a week ago, Cute Can Kill's shop updated and the usual mad rush ensued! If you're not familiar with Cute Can Kill, it's a super cute handmade jewelry shop hosted on storenvy that sells sweet glittery resin creations! They're very famous in J-Fashion communities for being really well-made and looking adorable with outfits! One of their most popular products are the "Dreamy Crystal Pegasus" necklaces, unicorn pegasus necklaces in dreamy pastel colours filled with holographic scraps and glitter! They don't update very often, and when they do it's a rush to try and get everything you want; I didn't manage to get exactly what I wanted, but I'm very happy with what I did! If you want to get exactly what you want, the best thing to do is probably to keep an eye on their Facebook page and jump when you see an update!

I made my orders within half an hour of the stock update, and I ordered 2 items: Magical Girls Star Lollipop 05, and Fairy Glitter Star Lavender - so a necklace and a ring! 

The necklace was $18.50, and the star was $6.50. We've heard a lot of people say that Cute Can Kill is on the pricier side for handmade jewelry, but both of us have definitely seen worse quality resin pieces on etsy for double the price! We made them as two separate orders, as we decided to throw in the ring after we were sure we'd gotten the lollipop! Within three days, the shipping for the ring was refunded as Cute Can Kill combine shipping on their orders!

We don't know when Cute Can Kill sent out the packages, but we received them on the 19th - so exactly a week after the order was placed! Considering how many orders must have been placed (I think it was a stock update of about 200 pieces, very few of which remain!), we were both super impressed with how quickly the items got here! 

The items were packaged really well, in a securely taped up padded envelope, with (as you can see) lots of bubble wrap. We especially liked the cute little gift box for the ring. 

As well as the actual items, we got a super sweet postcard featuring the owner's artwork! It's definitely going to go up in our room somewhere, it fits our aesthetic perfectly. The necklace came with a little note attached to the back; it even had a ribbon glued on top of the ribbon on the artwork! The cute little personal touches made it feel a lot like opening a present, which both of us love! I think nice packaging really adds the nicest touch to buying from a handmade seller.

We couldn't get a picture of how sparkly and nice the glitter in this ring is, but rest assured that it's adorable and is really going to add a cute touch to any otherwise boring outfits! 

The star lollipop is really sparkly and really well made; definitely worth the money we paid for it! It also came on some more adorable artwork as the backing; we both especially liked the pink plastic chain! The resin was very smooth and the eyepin was in really securely. The little details really make it seem like an actual magical girl wand!

My own favourite detail was the little fastening toggle; it's heart shaped!

A better picture of how supremely sparkly this lollipop is!

All in all, we are both super impressed by Cute Can Kill, quality wise and everything-else wise! Quick and safe delivery, reasonably priced, and extra cute to boot! I would definitely recommend Cute Can Kill as somewhere to get cute accessories to add an extra touch to your outfit - that is, if you can get there in time!