Hello lovely people!
First thing. I'm going to have to give an apology
My nails are just awful!
I painted them especially for this video
But the heat in Malaysia is so bad
It actually melts off
*laughs* My nail varnish has melted off my fingers
What. What is that
What is that
So, for anyone who doesn't know, I'm Jessica
And my wife and I are currently on a two month tour of Malaysia. Tada~
Which is why I'm in a very hot place and I'm really not used to it.
Because, back home in England it's snowing.
We are currently in Penang which is a li- uh.. its a small island
to the north ... west ? of peninsula Malaysia
You can follow our travels and see where we've been
I in fact have a playlist of all the Malaysia videos which you can find by going down to the description below
This Dresslily review has probably been my most requested
And I completely understand that! I was pretty interested myself.
Because i think 90% of my facebook adverts are just for this company
The other 10% , i think, are uh.. baby clothes because i have a new nephew oh!
So I thought that I would take the plunge and I ordered from them 8 dresses
With kind of mixed results
I have a whole series of brand reviews for different sort of vintage brands and different shops
Which again you can see by going to the link in the description or clicking the card above
But i do understand completely that dressing vintage can be very, very expensive *cash register ching*
I in fact wear nothing else but retro and vintage clothes so i do get it
I do get the search for that wonderful shop where all the dresses are completely beautiful and super cheap
Normally in a brand review I will take a look at the shop and i'll break it down to the look, the sizing and wearability, the pricing and then the ease of shipping
But Dresslily is not like that. No, no, no. They are not just one shop they are many shops all in the same - the same name - but all different names
Its very confusing. Oh actually its a bit like Amazon, see saying it like that makes it better - easier to understand right
They put that a lot on the website um because it-it has a say on the sizing
Y'know, every shop is different and they all have different sizing charts
So make sure that you go to every single sizing chart and check for the dresses
And I did that and in some of the shops I was a small and in some of them I was a large
But I just went by my measurements and I ordered them
Not a great idea. That was not clever of me
I was silly, I just should have ordered the small in all of the shops
Because *laughs* yeah I'm a small in all of the shops
Anyway, onto the dresses, I'm going to take you through each one of the eight
I'm going to give you the good points, the bad points
Whether I recommend them and then the final verdict at the end
I should begin by saying that in terms of dress size, so you have reference all the way through
I'm a UK size 8, I know that corresponds to a US size 4
And I chose all of these based on my measurements not the dress sizes
Dress number one *fabric rustles*
Here's what it looked like on the website
And here's what it looks like on me
As you can see it is a little large
It actually seems about two sizes too large
But I think that was my mistake because I ordered the medium
When I should have just ordered the small
It's a beautiful colour, however, and the material is 100% cotton
So it feels really good quality. And I've actually - I ha - I wore this. Still a bit big
But I'm running out of clothes to wear
So I wore it and people were very complimentary of it
I like the pleats here at the front I think that's a lovely way of getting a circle skirt
So in terms of the good points of this dress; The colour - absolutely stunning
And its not - It's quite a bright colour, I'm not sure I would have bought this if I'd seen it in a shop
But now I have it I'm quite pleased to have something in that colour
The fabric is really great. I really like it
I'm pleased that it's 100% cotton
Yeah, I really like the pleats, and the sleeves. The sleeves are quite cute they sit very nicely
Bad points; It's too big. That was pretty obvious
One other bad point would probably be that I feel the cut is a little high
On the front of the dress, for the neckline. That's just me
That's a preference, Some people like it that way
I happen to have a large chest so *whispered* gotta work with what I'm given
And here is the dress with a petticoat and belt
You can see it makes quite a difference, it's very adorable and i enjoy it very much
Again; lots of compliments on it.. and that's pretty much what you want with a dress really
Dress number 2!
as you can see from the picture on the website i though it was going to be a deeper burgundy colour
it's not. It's a very, very bright red
And it makes me look like a mint humbug according to claudia
But you know what? I don't mind that
Here's what it looks like on without a petticoat
and I'm rather enjoying it actually
It's very light to wear which is good in a hot country
You can just sort of swing it around, have a good time.. Like I am doing
And here it is with a petticoat on. I think its a great fun kind of dress really
This was one of my favourites
So the good points about the dress are; it's very light
you can really swing around with it and get going
rather nice *fabric rustling* there's a lot of fabric as well which is good
Didn't stinge on the fabric
I very much enjoy the detailing here that's very nice
It also has one of those um sticky plastic-y things along the inside
so that it sticks to your skin and does not fall off *whispers* which is very helpful lets be honest
Two negatives; number one, not everyone wants to look like a mint humbug
But number two would be that the fabric is quite warm
Because it is a synthetic fabric so it can get quite hot
Now this dress I would say did fit me
Even though it's a medium and as you saw the one previously was a medium
'Follow sizing charts better than I do' I think is the moral of this story
Dress number three
Now this one is a-a large and it didn't really fit me
But here it is on the website
And here it is on me
Claudia says the fact that it doesn't fit makes it look like a dinner lady dress
I really like this dress however, I think it's wonderful
I really wish it-it was in my size
A lovely flattering collarline
It's got pockets at the front, its very 1950s housewife
Which let's be honest is my aesthetic
Plus points; I think the cut is very flattering
The check is lovely, I'm very pleased its 100% cotton
Bad points
Oh it has a side zip rather than a back zip
I always think that if you've got your nice hair and makeup done
And then you put your dress on, it's much easier to have a back zip
And you can just step in, bring it over and zip up the back
Then you've got a side zip *unintelligible*
And yeah it-it didn't look great in that - in that size that was a mistake
But here it is with a petticoat and a belt
And you can see how lovely it actually is
Dress number 4
Here it is on the website
I think we can all agree that is an adorable pattern
The colours together are splendid
What a lovely cut with those pleats
Oh. I ordered the size medium
And it doesn't - it didn't fit
No, there was no. No no
was not the world's most flattering
And then I put a petticoat underneath it
Though maybe that would do something
But unfortunately there was no saving the fact that this dress was - was too large for me
I - its got a beautiful pattern tho, that's very nice
Also downsides is um. Is the fabric. It's very hot
*laughs* I am in Malaysia and it is a double layer of synthetic fabric
Plus points; um it's - it's a lovely colour
very nice design
Negatives; oh my God it's the world's hottest dress
Buy it if you live in a very cold country
Dress number five!
Now this is a dress you will of course recognise if you have seen our Penang vlog
Because I wear it in the temple and when we're going on a big tour of Penang
And I absolutely love it
And so now it-it's awash
It's a really easy dress to wear
Even though this is synthetic material again
It's not so tightly woven
If that makes sense, you can still breathe through it quite well
It's a gorgeous cut, It's got that kind of Marilyn Monroe feel about it
You can wear it with or without a petticoat i found
Because even without its still very flattering
I'd say of them all, this without a petticoat
along with the blue one I am currently wearing
Uh were the most flattering if you didnt put a petticoat underneath
The others you very much needed to put a petticoat under
To get the look that you're going for
The colour is a very bright red, its not something I'd neccesarily
Again, not something I'd neccesarily buy
But now I have it I'm really pleased
Because it's a very fun colour, it's a very fun cut and it's great to wear
So yeah, I think those were all the plus points there that I just went through
Don't really need to do that
Negatives; uh yeah synthetic fabric
It's not as tight in the waist as it could be
You need a dress that makes you really feel yourself as you walk along the street
Sixth Dress! *fabric rustles*
I really, really like the cut of this dress
I really like the colour of this dress
I think that it's lovely
It just, unfortunately, was ordered in a size large
Why do I do this
Of all the dresses I ordered
This was probably the one I was most looking forward to wearing
I thought it would be fantastic
and look really lovely
But then I put a petticoat and a belt on and I feel like that rather saved the look
So I think we were ok
I wore it out because again I have no dresses, I have run out. The next hotel will have a laundry service so
The cut of this dress is truely very flattering
It's lovely, and I wish I had this dress in the small
It's again 100% cotton
Which a lot of the more covering dresses seem to be, it's quite interesting
The halternecks not so much
It's printed onto the fabric, again it's lovely. It has two decorative buttons
Negatives; too big for me
I mean I can't - I don't know how the cut will be when it's in your size
Because the shoulders felt a little tight here
But again that could just be the large and the fact that I had to hold it down with a belt
Onto the penultimate dress!
And it looked like this on the website
I have feelings about this dress
I had high hopes for it, thought it was going to look really good
Really like that it's 100% cotton, like the colours
It just didn't really pan out
Which again could be because I stupidly ordered a size...
What is it. Oh it is a size large
Don't do that
Again of you're thinking of ordering from this site please follow my example
By not following my example
The elastic at the back is only along the top
I would have preffered a fully elasticated back
Or else just a more tightly fitting dress
I feel like with a halterneck you don't really need an elasticated back
Because you do have the halter and it will hold itself up
I've been looking at this shape, this kind of cut for quite a while
I like the overlay with having the skirt underneath and then a skirt on top
I thought it would look very nice
If you add a petticoat and a belt to it though, it is rather fun!
Look at that! That's a fun party dress
That's a good dress, I enjoyed that dress
Moving on to our final dress!
Number 8, which I am wearing so I..
This dress is a really lovely - really lovely halterneck
I've been wearing this dress a lot, again as you probably saw from the penang video
It has adorable pockets
You can wear it with or without a petticoat
either way is lovely
It's got very nice piping detailing at the front
some buttons
Although the material is synthetic, it again like the red dress
It's a much looser weave
So it is quite breathable
And with a petticoat it is even better! look at that swing!
I'd also like to take a moment to point out that a lot of the dresses are inspired by dresses that you can find elsewhere
obviously there's a thing about inspiration and taking the idea of something
A lot of vintage clothes are based on things from way back when
Whether that be dress patterns or pictures that we've seen
I've tried to keep my selection of dresses to those that are just original to Dresslily
And you can make your own mind up where you fall on that divide
In conclusion
My favourites are this blue halterneck dress
The red halterneck dress
And even though neither of them fit me
These two dresses!
They're delightful
I would reccomend you buy those 4
I thought those were rather nice
When I imagined the dresses and what they would be like I wasn't very sure
But actually some of them are really nice,
some of them are ones that I would definitely wear again
These two I think I will be getting in my actual size
Also in conclusion; don't be foolish
Do what your heart tells you to when it comes to a sizing chart
I hope you have enjoyed this video
And that you've found it helpful in some way
If you've ordered from Dresslily before then let me know down in the comments
Tell me what your experience was and what the dress was like
Whether you like it and would reccomend it to other people
A solid few of these dresses were very nice
If you're new here then hello! Come in. Take a look around
Watch some videos, I hope there's something that you like
And I hope that you'll subscribe
You can also follow me on Instagram where I post lots more vintage dress loveliness
You can also follow my couples page with my wife for travel stuff
If you have any other brands you would like me to do a review of please let me know down below as well
And I'll have a look at those and maybe they'll be next in my review series
See you soon! *kiss sound*
~retro music~