Holley Tea Time is a small independent business which creates cute clothes and accessories for people interested in kawaii fashion. The owner, Holley, is a skilled graphic designer and draws postiviely adorable designs and then sells them on wearable goods! Now, I've been following HTT for quite some time now. In the past HTT had created cute goods such as socks, skirts, and shirts but has now expanded her business! Holley's website now offers a great variety of styles such as skirts, dresses, crop tops, leggings, and even cute hand crafted accessories! In addition to that every style has different versatile designs as well as versatile colorways depending on your own personal style.
I'm very honored to now be working with Holley because again, I have been a fan of her work for quite a while now. Her brand was one of the first brands that I had truly fallen in love with, and well, I do have quite a lot from her shop which I've bought on my own! (two pairs of tights, knee highs, two skirts, a JSK, and a handful of accessories... to be exact...). Since I've always been a fan being able to promote her new merchandise and model for her site has been a dream come true!
In this review I'll not only review the skirts themselves but talk a little more about Holley's business and share a few of the pictures from my photoshoot!
To start off, typically I began all of my reviews by talking about the shipping but admittedly enough, while I created my video review for Holley I opened and got rid of the packaging so this review will truly just be on the skirts.
But! Not to worry~ If you are interested in how the shipping went and how my skirts were packaged, please feel free to watch my video review on Holley Tea Time!
Now onto these skirts~~!!
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The first skirt I received from Holley Tea Time was their Saturn's Wish Skirt! The Saturn Wish skirt comes in lavender, pink, blue and black. I received the purple one~!
As far as sizing is concerned, the skirt comes in sizes S-2XL !
My waist is a 31-32" inches but I requested a large because I am on the taller side~ I recommend if you are like me and a little in between to go for the larger size! I found that even though technically I could have fit the medium after trying on the large its a much more comfortable fit than what the medium would have been :)
So~ Here's my skirt! As you can see the skirt is quite large! An advantage to the shape of this skirt is how much volume there is to it. The type of skirt it is is called a circle skirt. A circle skirt is just like it sounds- a skirt which is actually shaped like a circle. This makes the skirt very large and flowy (for a lack of better words). The advantage to this is that there is plenty of room to put a petticoat or even two underneath! If you prefer a larger skirt you could wear a few pettis whereas if you are going for a more casual look you can always just wear it plain as is.
The design on the skirt is quite lovely as well! The skirt I received is the purple colorway and personally I believe the stock image given is a fantastic representation of its true color! The pattern itself is a space theme which is quite popular in kawaii fashion nowadays. It has classic colorful shooting stars on it but also has a planet which looks like saturn that has rainbow rings! Something that I think makes this skirt even more appealing is the balance of the pattern. Technically it is an all over print but because the larger Saturn is situated at the bottom of the skirt it makes the print feel very natural and has a great flow to it! A lot of skirts such as these could easily look too busy if the design isn't balanced well but I feel the skirt has a nice flow to it! Im also a fan of the colors used! They appear very vibrant in person and the quality of the printing is phenomenal. Quite often with indie designs I find a big flaw can be that the pattern didn't print dark enough but these skirts are so vibrant! For this pattern in particular the purple makes a nice backdrop for the pink, sax and yellow accents!
On the inside of the skirt Holley Tea Time now has official brand tags! I was so excited by this little addition! Brand tags on the inside is just a little touch but it makes your shopping experience just a tad more exciting because it then feels like a true brand!
Holley Tea Time also attached a paper tag on the outside with one of their logos on it, the size, price, and their website! Again, this makes it all the more official and is a bonus for people like me who collect tags and business cards!
Next for the quality of the skirt regarding sewing and the materials its made out of! Holley Tea Time doesnt sew the skirts themselves but instead sends the designs in and has a company make them for her. This has many pros to it- hypothetically for someone that may not be able to sew they can still make cute clothing! Plus, once you find a company that is right for you, you should be able to guarantee that your items will be high quality. I definitely love the company that Holley decided to work with! All of the seams are sewn incredibly evenly, are straight, and there were absolutely no loose threads! In addition to that the fabric of the skirts is SO soft! The material is a nylon and spandex fabric and because of that it has a bit of a stretch to it! The stretchiness of the skirt gives it a little bounce when you walk which is completely adorable!
Overall I'm very pleased with this skirt!
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The next skirt I received from Holley Tea Time was their Twinkle Heaven skirt! This review will be a little shorter than the above because much of the information concerning quality and structure remains the same.
All information regarding the sizing of the skirt is the same as Saturn's Wish so please reference the above c; As far as design is concerned, Holley Tea Time has actually released a skirt with the Twinkle Heaven design in the past. The first generation of the skirt was much different though! It was made with a cotton material and had a completely different cut. I own both skirts so it was a great experience to be able to compare them. For a detailed comparison please watch my youtube video.
Just like the above skirt, I was very pleased to find that the color of the skirt in person was a near perfect match to the stock image displayed on the website. My favorite thing about this skirt I think is how vibrant the colors are while still staying soft and whimsical. The pattern itself consists of a sax blue, lavender, and pink background with puffy clouds and moons with wings on them~ Even though the colors of the skirt are bright, the design itself is gentle enough that you could coordinate this skirt in a variety of different styles ranging from fairy kei to cult party kei and beyond.
Just as Saturn's Wish skirt did, Twinkle Heaven had both a sewn in tag and a paper tag attached~!
When it comes to the quality of the skirt, this one was just as incredible! All of the seams were sewn straight and evenly and the fabric of the skirt is soft and durable!
This skirt is just so incredibly cute and I am so happy with it~! My favorite things truly is its versatility when coording so its definitely a must have for any wardrobe!
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Now for the break down of my overall shop review! Since I am reviewing clothing and not accessories, my categories will be a little different this time c;
Quality and Construction: 10/10
The quality of this skirt truly is something to get excited over. I'm so satisfied and excited over the company Holley decided to work with! Neither of the skirts had any visible flaws and after quite a few wears the quality was still top notch. All of the seams were even and there were no loos threads. In addition to that the fabric that its made of is quite soft and very stretchy. In addition to that the shape of the skirt makes it petticoat friendly. Quite honestly, the quality and construction couldn't be any better ^ u ^
Design and Print: 10/10
Holley's art is positively adorable and wearing it always brings me great joy~ Her designs always appeal to so many different types of people in the kawaii community but in addition to that they're drawn really well. The images themselves are crisp, the color choices are smart, the designs are trendy but still unique, and the overall composition of the skirt is well balanced and appealing. I also can't stress enough how accurate the color is displayed on the stock image on her website. You definitely can trust them and know what you're buying! Overall the color just excited me because its so vibrant and not dull at all. I definitely am overly satisfied with the design of these skirts.
Price: 9/10
Price is an interesting subject to talk about because it's definitely more subjective that the other categories but I feel like it's still something that needs to be discussed. Any time a small indie designer releases new clothing price is always a hot topic in the community! Since I've bee following Holley for a while and was very interested in these skirts after the release I did follow the reactions of the community as well. Many were definitely positive but I know a lot of people were concerned with the price believing it was too high for the skirts. Clearly because I rated price a 9/10 I tend to disagree. Of course anyone would like to pay less- thats just how things work. But I think 75$ is by far a fair price! When it comes to pricing garments there are many things to keep in mind: conceptualizing the idea, drawing the print, talking with the companies, the cost of material and work to make the skirts, and then of course making your money back and trying to make a profit. I find that this can be a very expensive progress and typically people forget about the time and work it takes to actually draw the original image. I bet many people now are sitting here like "but Prince- that's easy for you to say these skirts were sponsored!" Well! I actually fully intended to buy and review two of Holley's skirts, because I am in fact such a big fan, before she asked me. That was just a stroke of luck :') Anyway! This is much longer than needed~ All I can say is that I believe it's a fair price and if you don't think so nobody is forcing you to buy them c'
Overall Shop Review: 10/10
Holley Tea Time never ceases to amaze me~! As someone who has been following her work for years now, I'm just so excited by how much Holley's business has grown. Not only has her art improved but the quality of her products has also improved as well! The designs were cute and crisp, the skirts were well made, and overall they are such a great addition to my wardrobe~! I highly recommend not only checking out these skirts but also seeing what else Holley Tea Time has to offer c;
Thanks for reading cuties! And happy shopping~~!
You can use my code "mahouprince" at check out on Holley's storenvy to receive 10% off your order~
Some more of Holley's cute goods aaaand maybe some reviews to look forward to in the future c;
I'm sorry if you've been asked this before, but what petti/underskirts do you have? I've been looking for another one around that length, my short one is super lumpy (and often too short) and my longer one is too long for most of my skirts and dresses *0*
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