Review: Active

First of all... why are the words "women/woman" and "man" on everything. Just, why? Why do we need clothes to be gendered? Sure, they're shaped to fit one doll type of another, but plenty of us mix it up and wear the opposite. Why you gotta be so mean, stardoll? (Also, why do they say "women" on some and "woman" on others? Seriously, Stardoll, get your cat together.)

Anyway, for the items themselves I have rather mixed feelings.

What I Loved:

There's some shockingly good graphics going on in this collection. Active is usually known for being flat, textured and basic, and while some items definitely are, they're made up for by items like the Raincoat Women and the whole of the men's outfit.

Which of course is my next point  - yay, the guys have new clothes! And they're not black and basic, either. I can't say that I like the Outdoor Jacket per se, I'm just happy to see some nice graphics and new shapes on menswear.

The colours! There's a really nice range of greens and blues, which I just love. They're a little more usable than the earlier mismash, and actually make it look like a well put-together store.

My Picks:

Raincoat Women / Outdoor Jacket Man / Checker Shirt Woman

What I'm Unsure About:

This collection is a mix of summer, and winterwear. Why? I'm not too sure. I don't outright dislike it, to be fair, and as someone in the southern hemisphere's summer, it's almost nice they added in stuff I might actually wear right now. But it does stop it from looking quite as co-ordinated as it could.

The prices. 7sd is probably not something I'd ever pay for a white tee shirt, even a textured one, so that items ought to have been in sc. Otherwise, it's just not bad. Even if the starcoin items are pretty hideous,  everything is very reasonable and bordering on cheap.

What I Hated:

Seriously, the leggings look all kinds of wrong. They're bizarrely shiny (is that sweat or what?) and maybe it's my doll's shape, but they're wider than her legs, making shoe layering very tricky.

The Turquoise Swimwear. I'm sorry, but zoomed out it just looks like cheat hair on blue skin. 

That swimming cap. I really don't think this one needs explaining.

The ELEVEN STARDOLLAR UGLY SWIMMING BAG. Seriously, that belongs as some kind of 2011 freebie, not a stardollar item!

What did you think of this release?

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Review : MR

My doll is plenty lady like, but who isn't excited to see some new male clothes in the starplaza?

But wait - isn't it women's international week? It's definitely a very weird choice in timing when it comes to this release. Perhaps they could have waited until Monday? I'm not offended, personally, it just feels a bit, well, insensitive.

What I Liked:

The pants. After several different dupes featuring various black pant styles, I'm definitely happy to see some new ones.The pinstripe tapered pants in sc decent, if a little plain, but the price is fine for what they are.

Have I mentioned recently that the mannequin stylists are doing a surprisingly decent job lately? These looks are just what I would expect for a user - or real life street style guy - to be seen wearing. Hope they keep it up! 

And the bags! Seriously, the last thing I expected to be loving from a men's store is most certainly the bags. But they're so nice looking, and cute - in a unisex kind of way. 

My Picks:

"Meh"

All the graphics tees. I love graphic tees, but after a while, they're just yet more wasted space. These are cool, and trendy, plus I wish they came in woman's shirts, but they remind me more of Identitee where graphic tops on basic shapes cost 2-4 stardollars. Which is honestly what these are worth - they're not new shapes, colours, or much of anything besides a 5-minute photoshopped slogan.

The prices. They're fine overall, and are pretty much what I expected. Not cheap, not expensive, just meh.

The graphics? What a mixed bag it is. The Tiger Shirt oddly resembles the old 2009 era of graphics. The floral sleeve shirt dress is all kind of weirdly flat and somehow shiny. 

I think I'm just a bit annoyed that there's no overarching theme - girls clearly get summer floors, autumn floors, floors about lace or florals or pastels. This just doesn't have that, it's just generic male clothes mushed in together again. The individual outfits appear to be somewhat themed, but I'm not convinced overall.

What I Hated:

Nothing much, really. The graphic tees are frustrating, but not hate-worthy, and the same goes for the odd graphics. 

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REVIEW: Pearls

I can't freak out enough over this store! I am absolutely stoked with this collection overall, and I hope that we get a second floor asap!

What I Loved:

All the starcoin items! Not only are there 4 of them, they're absolutely lovely, and not overpriced either. There's five of them, including three clothing items!

The overall look of this store, especially the outfits on the mannequins, look like they were meant to go together which is always great! Even better, there's an interesting range of different items  to choose from, so there's something for everyone here.

There's also a good selection of definitely original pieces, and plenty of trend inspired pieces if you're more into that than vintage styles of previous floors.

My Picks:

I styled my picks again!  Unsurprisingly, I'm in love with the starcoin items. And who wouldn't be? 

What I Hated:

Unfortunately, a few things.

The overall textures and shades look very flat and plasticy, as opposed to, you know, like fabric. This is a bit of a theme in this store, though.

I've already done a Dupes post with white, wide leg pants. Seriously, nobody wanted another pair.

Also, there's several turtlenecks that look just like these ones already. And as much as I'm in love with trumpet sleeves, there's already a very similar-textured, all-navy one in the plaza already. I would have liked it all-white a lot better.

What did you think of this collection?

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Under 35: Nature Revival

I've been so busy lately, I've slacked a bit on posting these! I really love doing them so of course I had to go back and have a go at making some more. For a theme I went with nature, in prints and colours since it's Spring here!

Again I used a total amount of under 35 sd, on a theme in the Starplaza - note than any USD bras, hair, and makeup used aren't included when I counted up the price.

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Under 35 : All That Glitter (Gold)

I'm doing Gold today, and Silver next week. I decided to use AshleighDana so that all of the outfits would have to be non-ss friendly!

Again I used a total amount of under 35 sd, on a theme in the Starplaza - note than any USD bras, hair, and makeup used aren't included when I counted up the price.

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Clique Review

I hate to do too many negative reviews, but a collection this bad just needs to be written about.

Firstly, the repeated items on the first floor. They didn't even bother to give us a new design in different colours, they just straight-up recoloured versions of things that we already have. It's insulting.

Secondly, the whole store is so generically bad. It's like a Nelly 2.0 but with really bad graphics.

Which brings me to my third point. The first floor isn't awful, but that's because it's largely made up of items we pretty much had already. The second floor is just appalling. Everything is flat, basic, un-shaded, and ugly. They look like they belong in a box of all the discarded, unused freebies we've all collected over the years.

There are so, so few redeeming features about this collection, so at least the prices stayed down. With shirts below, for example, the original was ss-only and cost 16sd, while the dupes cost 11sd and are available to everyone.


Left Blue White Striped Shirt by Clique
Center Camilla Shirt by  Pals Superstar
Right Half And Half Shirt by Clique

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Styling: Trails

I'm a bit late to review or do a top 5 on this so I just made a couple outfits using it and the stores around the plaza. Hope you still like this, maybe get some styling ideas.

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Styling: Active

I did my "top 5" post a while back now, so it's about time I styled them for myself. You can check that post out HERE.

Even though I'm not a huge fan, I tried to go with the overall feel of the store when I was making these, hopefully I pulled that off. I kept with neutral makeup the whole time because I thought that would fit the theme more than a colourful lip would do.

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Styling: Pearls Tailored Navy Blazer

I did a couple of quick looks featuring my favourite pieces from the new PEARLS store, a list and description can be found  HERE.

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Styling: Pearls Folded Top

I did a couple of quick looks featuring my favourite pieces from the new PEARLS store, a list and description can be found HERE.

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Best Buys : Pearls

We have another new store, Pearls! To me, it looks a bit like Decades, but not quite as nice in terms of the graphics. 

There's still a few cool things, and it's nice that they're adding a lot more starcoin - and men's - items into the mix.

1: Oxford Shirt

Every doll has got to have some kind of denim or blue collared shirt, and this one is perfect for that need. It's in starcoins which is definitely a big bonus since all of us have a chance to own it.

2: Folded Top

This is just a really versatile piece. It's a white top, and cropped, so it's a bit modern but it's also the kind of thing you'd see being worn anywhere, any time. Super easy to dress up, or down, and not too expensive either.

3: Printed Midi Skirt

Midi skirts are so very popular this year, and they're really flattering as well. It's nice to see stardoll catching on, and really well done too. There's so many little details that have gone into this skirt it's very impressive, for any garment let lone one in starcoins!

4: Tailored Navy Blazer

Blazers are another must-have. While there's a lot of black ones around, navy is definitely a staple colour that shouldn't ever be overlooked. The piping contrast makes this a winner for me.

5: Selftie Collar Blouse

This is just so cute! This will be a great layering item, but also not a bad thing to have out on it's own.

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Best Buys: Pearls

We have another new store, Pearls! To me, it looks a bit like Decades, but not quite as nice in terms of the graphics. 

There's still a few cool things, and it's nice that they're adding a lot more starcoin - and men's - items into the mix.

1: Oxford Shirt

Every doll has got to have some kind of denim or blue collared shirt, and this one is perfect for that need. It's in starcoins which is definitely a big bonus since all of us have a chance to own it.

2: Folded Top

This is just a really versatile piece. It's a white top, and cropped, so it's a bit modern but it's also the kind of thing you'd see being worn anywhere, any time. Super easy to dress up, or down, and not too expensive either.

3: Printed Midi Skirt

Midi skirts are so very popular this year, and they're really flattering as well. It's nice to see stardoll catching on, and really well done too. There's so many little details that have gone into this skirt it's very impressive, for any garment let lone one in starcoins!

4: Tailored Navy Blazer

Blazers are another must-have. While there's a lot of black ones around, navy is definitely a staple colour that shouldn't ever be overlooked. The piping contrast makes this a winner for me.

5: Selftie Collar Blouse

This is just so cute! This will be a great layering item, but also not a bad thing to have out on it's own.

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Best Buys: Active

First off, everything in starcoins is almost always an automatic win to me, and this store had a lot of it. But, I didn't want to think only about Price so these are all about the looks for the most part.

1 : Free Fit Sneakers

Even if they weren't in starcoins, these shoes would still be the best part about this store by a long way. The price is just a bonus. These are really cute, casual, and easily styled, you just can't ever look past a classic black sneaker.

2: Track Suit Jacket

Varsity styled jackets like this one are always going in-and-out of fashion, but they're still a great item to keep on hand for whenever you may need it next. This one is neon blue, and I really like the stripe sleeve detail on it, and how open it is. Even being so bold it's not all that hard to style.

3: Tight Trainer TeeAgain, the starcoins are just a bonus with this item. Any collared polo tee is a win, especially a tight-fitted one because they're ideal layering items. While I like the black zip detail, the armpit stripes are so old fashioned and ugly. But, I'm not going to wear it as-is, so it's a non issue.

4: Perfect Tennis Tee

Another awesome piece for layering. I really like the style of this, it's sporty but also a bit on the side of preppy as well. I'd put it higher on that list if there were any other purples I could find to match this, but so far, I can't find any...

 

5: Comfy Sweater

I love this adorable style. I can't say I'd ever really wear this to work out but it's still super cute. I don't really like the weird tan/off-white they chose. So far, I've not seen it look good with ANY doll's skin tone when in direct contact but it's not so bad with a  bit of layering.

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