Rose Melody Rosa Aroma JSK Review (Purchased through qcute!)

[octavekitten]

Almost a month ago, I decided to use the QutieLand Service to order the Rose Melody Rosa Aroma JSK. I thought the name was kind of funny (doesn’t quite have any aroma!), but I loved the burnout velvet design, and I’m a sucker for a bustle back. I thought the design was very elegant and more on the gothic side, which I am crazy about, despite owning mostly sweet dresses. I needed a dress that was affordable, but still beautiful because I am traveling to Berlin in three weeks and attending a Lolita meet up there. I was scared to pack one of my brand dresses just in case the airline loses my luggage. I’m slightly paranoid;)

I decided on the JSK over the dress set, because I didn’t see the need for it to be in two pieces. Because Rose Melody custom makes the dresses to your measurements, and each piece is made to order I placed the order 6 weeks in advance to my trip. They claim that the dress will be done in 15 to 30 days from when you order, and mine fell right around 19 days from when I placed the order until I received it. I was very impressed with, that. Because I like to make sure my dresses fit how I want them to depending on my weight fluctuations or mood, I inquired about getting shirring on the dress. This was an easily accommodated request, which only cost me $6.00 US. You can’t beat that!

What most of you probably want to know about is the quality of the dress. While it obviously is not the same quality as Japanese brand dresses, I will say the quality is very good for the price you pay for the dress. The velvet burn out fabric that is used for the overskirt and part of the bodice/bows is very soft, and the burn out print is very clear. The cotton broadcloth portions of the dress are not too stiff, and I’m sure once I wear and clean the dress will be nice and soft. The shirring lacing ribbon is just your regular run of the mill satin ribbon.

The top layer of the bustle back, which goes over the cotton broadcloth, is a weird transparent almost gauze-like fabric. Gauze in the sheerness factor, but it’s stiffer. I love the look it creates, however I feel like that fabric is a bit too shiny for my tastes. I understand that this is the design of the dress and the look they are going for, it just really isn’t my taste for something to be so shiny. Unfortunately in the stock photos you can’t tell how shiny the overlay fabric is.

For reference the stock photos can be found here:
http://s422.photobucket.com/albums/pp305/qutieland/Rose%20Melody/JSK/RMJ0003A/

The skirt is VERY full. You can fit a gigantic petti under it, believe me. The back waist ties are tied and sewn into a fixed permanent bow. This is nice because your bow will always look perfectly tied, however it’s not tight enough for me so it’s a bit loose and hangs down a bit. That is, of course, easily fixed. The side zipper is kind of difficult to get up, but it’s no worse than any of my brand dresses. The top little bust detail is kind of funky, almost as if a bra is peeking out up top. Fortunately when you coordinate the JSK with a blouse you can’t notice it. It came with extra buttons, which is always nice.

When I ordered the skirt and asked for Qutieland’s opinion on the quality of the dress, they told me they received one review which was not positive on the 2 piece set version of this dress. They showed me the review which can be seen here: http://qcute.livejournal.com/1882.html?page=7#comments

They responded to me with this: about the Ribbon and the thin fabric of the inner skirt, we have reflected to RM already. And they promised that the Ribbon shape would be improved and fixed, and the inner skirt material would replace a thicker one for the next order. So that we believe that the quality and QC would be improved comparing then that girl's comment.

I do feel that the fabric was improved for the skirt, and it was thicker. The shiny over ruffle on the bustle seems to be the same, but that was not a complaint of the previous buyer.

Overall my cost came out with shipping to $120 US Dollars, broken down like this:

HKD$620(RMJ0003A) + $45(Shiring Custom fee) + $258(2kg to US) = HKD$923

You do pay in hong kong dollars. I think this dress was well worth it for the amount of money that I paid, especially since the $120 total included EMS shipping. As far as qcute goes, there are plenty of reviews on their services. They are fantastic and a pleasure to deal with. The communication is superb. And now….my photos! I tried to take some with and without the flash so you could see the details of the dress as well as possible. Sorry if they aren’t the greatest, I’m not exactly a photographer! I’ve only got my bathroom lighting to work with. Hopefully it will give you a good idea though☺

The flash does over-exaggerate the shinyness just a tiny bit, but you get the idea...
























And here’s a coordinated shot. I'm looking a bit sloppy in these, but there will be some good photos posted to daily_lolita when I get super dolled up and wear it out in Berlin, or possibly before because I don't think I can wait that long to wear it! The blouse and head bow are Angelic Pretty, the socks are Alice and the Pirates, and the shoes are Lolita Lola. Pardon my after-work no make-up don’t-give-a-shit look. LOL I forgot to take the tag off…





I hope this helps some people:)