Once again I got the chance to review a product of my choice from @devilinspiredofficial's website. Since I always seem to have too many dresses, but never enough tops to got with them, I chose a blouse this time. I decided on a "autumn or winter" (their words) blouse by Infanta. I already own a bunch of things by Infanta and especially like their blouses, so I knew that it was going to be a good one.
The package arrived in less than a week and the blouse was well packed and protected. Unfortunately, it had quite a strong chemical smell, but it's hard to tell whether it's from the plastic wrapping or if the fabric itself was smelling so much. Luckily, after 2 days in fresh air the smell went away. My first surprise was that the description of the blouse as an "autumn or winter" item was no lie or exaggeration. The blouse is fully lined with a very soft fleece material and super warm and cozy. In fact, it might actually be a bit too warm for me, as I get hot easily. However, it will be the perfect item to wear to outdoor Christmas markets. The fit is great, the design is neat and I can find no flaws, except for a few longer threads around the button holes, which are easily removed.
This is the part where I would write about Devilinspired's customers' service, timeliness of shipping and communication, but since I did not pay for the blouse, I feel like I can say very little about that. The 2 people that I was in contact with were very nice and answered promptly to my emails, but I don't know if they also do regular customers' service and if it is handled the same way. As you know, Devilinspired is a reseller of Chinese brands. Therefore they are not directly responsible for the quality of the products they are offering, but have choice over what brands they decide to resell. I appreciate that they don't resell replicas (except for some bags by Loris), therefore making it easier for new lolitas to not accidentally buy a replica (Let me know if I overlooked a replica. I know a lot of brand designs, but definitely not all of them, so I might have missed one). Since they are a reseller and make their money by, literally, reselling stuff, the products are a bit more expensive than if you would buy directly from the brand's store. In exchange, the ordering process is quite simple and their staff speaks perfect English. On Devilinspired's website, the blouse is listed for 48,95€. If you were to buy it directly at Infanta's Taobao store, it would be about 28€. This is quite a mark-up, so I went on to see whether I could order the blouse directly from Infanta's Taobao store. Long story short: probably no. Taobao as a market place has recently tried to widen their customer base and now offer international shipping. Sadly, only to a few countries so far, and the European Union is not a part of it. I've heard of people contacting Infanta directly via email and asking if they would send them products, but that involves emailing strangers, dealing with translating Chinese and not having the total security of knowing whether you were understood correctly and will actually receive what you wanted. In my opinion, using a reseller (in this case Devilinspired), makes the ordering process a lot easier and clearer. You have to decide for yourself what you prefer. Last, but not least, I want to thank Devilinspired that I got the chance to receive a free blouse and got to write about it. I really appreciate it and I hope I managed to write an honest review. <3
