xianyu hair accessories haul & overskirts review

The prices of burando hair accessories on the secondhand market continue to climb to ridiculous heights, so when I got given an unexpected bonus at work recently I decided it would be best spent with some Chinese indie brands instead. Several years ago I wrote a post about Taobao stores that were releasing accessories that felt on a par with brand quality, but now it feels like all the most unique and creative accessory stores operate largely on Xianyu instead of Taobao.

Below I've photographed, linked and reviewed the accessories I bought - all headwear, mostly headbows. At the end I've also added a comparison between an overskirt I ordered on Xianyu as part of this haul, and a Me Likes Tea overskirt I preordered in January or February of this year that arrived a couple weeks ago, so scroll down if that's what you're here for.

As always, I'm reliant on Google translate for these Xianyu shop names, so my apologies if they are inaccurate.

xianyu hair accessories

mo yuan'er

seller's stock image

The first item: a red polka dot cotton headbow, with tulle lace trim.

I missed out on the matching headbow for Strawberry Cake Party when I was in Japan, and while I do have plenty of other options to coord it with, I have so many other dresses with red accents or red polka dots on that I thought this would be a really versatile headbow in my wardrobe.

Here are my images:

The headbow is well made and very cute. I would say it's a darker red than it appears in the stock photo, and even in my photos, but not to the point that I won't coord it as I intended (though I'm less picky on exact matches so long as the undertones of the different shades don't clash, and the tone of this headbow does not).

It's not secured to the headband, so you could position it to one side if you like. I might sew crocodile clips to the headbow in the future as this style of headband is (for me) one of those "instant headache" ones.

The shop also sent a little freebie - this Hello Kitty bow-style ring, in red, which is cute - I like that they matched the colour of what I'd ordered.

I'd rate this one a 4/5 for the unexpected shade difference, but like I say, I'm not too picky so long as the colours aren't a clash—this isn't a shade that will.

unknown handmade girl

seller's stock image

Next up: a pink cotton headbow with tulle lace and pearls.

I wanted to look for a headbow that matches better with "airier" coordinates, if you know what I mean by that—ones that have sheer elements, such as overskirts, socks with transparent elements, chiffon blouses—as my current go-to pink headbow is quite solid and doesn't have these softer edges. And I'm always a sucker for pearl details, as you'll see repeated on later items.

My pictures:

It's a really cute headbow, maybe a little more saturated in person than it has photographed here. I think if I saw someone wearing this, I would just assume it was AP. If I look very closely at the stitching I can tell it's a handmade item, but I don't say that in a negative way—it's just the very slight variation of something being made by hand, not at all something I would consider a flaw. The headbow is really well constructed and super adorable. Worth noting it is attached to the band so cannot be repositioned to the side (without modifying it).

I'd rate this one 5/5!

blowing out bubbles

seller's stock image

This one is a cotton lavender headbow with pearl accents. It's so hard to find basics like simple and versatile headbows secondhand nowadays, especially in colours like sax, lavender, yellow, and mint. I wanted to fill the lavender headbow gap in my wardrobe, so ordered from this listing - but the same design is available in pink, white, and black, as well as some combinations of multiple colours.

This headbow is well made (but could maybe do with a bit of a steam fresh out of the package!). I'm really pleased with how well the lavender tulle lace matches the cotton fabric. It's such a versatile style, so I'm really happy to have this one in my collection and would consider purchasing other colourways in the future. This headbow is not attached to the band so can be worn on either side, and came with a loose alligator clip so you can secure it on the head. For this size of headbow, this is my preference, as I have some AP headbows that are attached to one specific side, which can make layering them impossible in some configurations.

I'd rate this one 5/5.

humans who don't know magic

seller's stock image

This old school strawberry headdress is so cute and unique that I had to order it when I saw it.

It's a mint cotton fabric with white rose lace running down the centre, with beautiful pink inset cotton bows over the top, and trimmed with white torchon lace. At each end there are two pink polka dot cotton strawberries, complete with leaves, hanging from mint and white pearl chains.

I think this will be so cute with prints in my wardrobe like AP's Original Strawberry Print, Sheep Garden, Sugar Fairy Cake, or BTSSB's Mary's Sweet Sheep... Often strawberry prints have little accents of green or mint but I haven't really had the pieces to be able to pull that out before now.

It's immaculately sewn—and, even better, comes complete with crocodile clips to secure on the head.

Look at these strawberries. Can I rate something a 6/5?

little rabbit bobo handmade

seller's stock image

Oh my god. This heart-shaped mini hat is actually insane.

It has sturdy-feeling construction, with heart lace, torchon lace, cotton lace and grosgrain ribbon adorning it, as well as a large cotton bow that is decorated with pearls and a heart-shaped charm.

I've wanted to add a mini hat to my collection for ages (before now, I only had a mini straw hat). This design is so unique and cute, it really feels like something AP would have released ten years ago that would now sell for the price of one of your smaller organs on the secondhand market. I can't wait to style it!

I do think it's quite funny that the heart charm reads "Mezzo Piano since 1988" since, well, it's obviously not a Mezzo Piano item. It won't stop me from wearing the hat, I just find it a bit amusing.

The hat came with a length of matching grosgrain ribbon that can be optionally added if you want to tie it under your chin, which is very cute, and a few freebies!

This one is also a 6/5. It's my rating scale and I can do what I want.

overskirts review

cheese cat handmade

seller's stock image

I've been wanting to develop my overskirt collection, as I'm saying goodbye to the only dress in my wardrobe that comes with a pink overskirt. I ordered two items to hopefully do two different jobs: the first of which is this longer pink overskirt, with white trim, pink bows and pearls decorating it.

I had pretty high expectations as I already own some Cheese Cat items. Now, pretty immediately after trying this on, I realised there was a reason it was described as an "apron", not an overskirt, on the Xianyu listing, so perhaps this is my fault for expecting something different. There are no photos that show the item from the back on the listing, and it's definitely more... front-forward, when worn.

Here are some quick try-on photos—the overskirt doesn't match well with this dress, but just to demonstrate for you. The drama is all in the front! I don't think this is a sizing thing—even with a smaller waist, the way the two pieces of fabric are spaced wouldn't mean they move much further back. I do think it still looks cute, but maybe I just need to adjust my expectations of how it will look when worn?

I'm wearing my 12m Aurora and Ariel petticoat in these pictures, which is my "medium" and most worn petticoat size, but I think the overskirt/apron might look best over my largest petticoat, like in the seller image (which makes sense, as it's the sort of thing I'd wear to a fancier event).

Aside from it surprising me with the lack of... butt coverage, the piece is sewn really well and is very cute. I do still like the item overall and think I will get wear out of it in the future for more OTT coords, which is what I intended it for.

me likes tea

As mentioned previously, I also pulled the trigger on a Me Likes Tea overskirt early on in the year, which arrived recently. I specifically ordered what they call the "Ruffled Overskirt" in pink.

The Me Likes Tea overskirt is about six times over more expensive than the Cheese Cat one, but I do have to concede that it is impeccably made.

Again, please excuse the quick try-on photos, but hopefully it helps to demonstrate the length—I opted for the shortest option when ordering as I wanted one that wouldn't cover the print of a dress when worn. I chose Pale Pink as the colour and it's a really nice neutral pink that pairs well with my wardrobe.

The overskirt is fastened with a button and loop at the front, has an elasticated waist, and comes with a detachable bow. It also has a little gold logo sewn into the waistband at the back, which feels very premium.

The method of fastening means that the overskirt is sized, and I found the size I ordered to correspond to the size chart and fit me well. I'm really excited to use this to add some extra oomph to my coords going forward!

I'd recommend Me Likes Tea overskirts if you have the sort of wardrobe where you have one dominant colour that matches most of your pieces, and you know you'll get a lot of use out of it, which is true for me. 

I also want to note that I found the brand owner to be super helpful when I had a question about the different colour options on Instagram! They have two pink shades available and I wasn't sure on the difference, so she tagged me in the comments of previous items in each colour on their Instagram so I could see real-life examples, which really helped me choose what colour to go for. Me Likes Tea also prepays taxes and customs so you won't get any on your parcel.

Overall I'd say the high price is completely worth it for the ability to specify exactly what I want, down to the colour of each component, the size, and the incredible customer service. I'm really pleased with my purchase! They don't always have the ruffled overskirts available, so you may need to wait for the next preorder to snag one yourself if you're interested.

Thanks for reading as always. I'm really excited to style these new headpieces and overskirts. Feel free to drop me a message if you have any specific questions I can answer on any of these pieces!

indie brand spotlight - panda san shop

I've been a fan of UK-based indie accessory brand Panda San Shop since early 2022, pretty much at the start of my EGL wardrobe, when I ordered a pink sparkly star hair clip from her Etsy store that has since featured in about a million of my coord pics. Last year at Hyper Japan Manchester, Panda San Shop had a stall selling her amazing accessories, so of course I had to say hi and pick some up! Since then I've ordered several custom pieces which have truly amazed me in terms of quality and execution. And now, most recently, Panda was kind enough to gift myself and my bestie Rhiann each a set of matching accessories! 

Spoiler for some of the items featured later!

I really love supporting smaller brands and artists, so this blog post will be a feature entirely on Panda San Shop and it's owner, Libby. I'll give you a quick showcase of my existing Panda San collection, show off the matching pieces we were gifted, and then I have an interview with the brand owner herself!

my panda san collection

These are all my star clips from Panda San Shop—and yes, absolutely, they are all necessary to have in my wardrobe! The far right one is the first one I bought, and the multicoloured ones I bought at Hyper Japan. The yellow and pink one was a custom commission piece. And the smaller stars were freebies with previous orders!

For a sweet lolita, I feel like a star clip is THE accessory. Maybe this is a hot take, but I think it always matches, even if it's not a star-themed coord. And there's something super fun about the dangly element. And that's why I have four of them.

Panda San Shop offers a whole range of colours of these, and I believe also offers heart-shaped clips as well as stars!

I'm also lucky enough to own some Panda jewellery!

I commissioned this ring based on Angelic Pretty's Compact Toys pony charm. I basically DMed Panda San Shop on Instagram and asked if Libby could adapt her existing pony rings to resemble this guy, and she totally delivered! I was able to customise anything and everything, down to the glitter and what colour stars went in his mane and tail.

And the end product came out so well! I wore this ring as part of my Etoile Reverie coord. I really like the look of wide rings that sit on one finger but take up your entire hand, it's great for an OTT look without the feeling of wearing six different rings that are all bumping against each other.

Then this necklace was a complete surprise! Rhiann knew I'd commissioned a ring, and asked Libby to make a matching necklace version, which she gave me as a birthday gift! I was so surprised, it was such a thoughtful present and it's so amazing how well the two items match despite being made at different times!

As Rhiann noted in both her own previous reviews, we're really lucky to have such an incredible brand at our disposal here in the UK who is actually a member of the community, too—our fashion is all about coordinating things as well as possible, and what would match better than a custom piece designed exactly to your specifications? It's also a chance to request very specific colourways that might be harder to find or not released very often. And a custom piece can be a way to give love or show your dedication to prints or releases that never came out with matching jewellery or accessories. I'm already scheming what future pieces I'll commission from Panda! Maybe a cake necklace to match Strawberry Cake Party...?

our matching accessories!

Libby approached myself and Rhiann a while ago with the idea of showcasing a matching set of accessories—because she hand makes each item, it's easy to request the same thing in different colourways, to twin with your friend!

We asked for a bunny theme and specified some colours, but left the rest up to her. 

Libby sent us these pictures to update us once the pieces were complete:

Guess who's is who, LOL! And I also have to mention how cutely each item was packaged!

Panda themed packaging!!

They arrived very quickly after our discussion but we had to wait a while to take proper pictures of everything because of my Japan trip. However, last weekend we finally wore our best bunny-themed coords out in Manchester to showcase the pieces!

I'd just received Happy Garden in the mail (this was my FOURTH attempt at snagging this print, and it finally worked out—it always sells so fast!!) so of course I had to coord it, because it matched the bunny accessories perfectly. Rhiann wore Nakayoshi Bunny to match the theme too! We also both wore our fluffy bunny ears from a Xianyu brand (the name directly translates to Honglei & Her Magicians but I have no idea if that's correct, LOL).

But on to the important part! The Panda San pieces. Here's how we styled them:

I often struggle to wear wristcuffs for a full day because I find gathered lace rubbing against my wrists pretty uncomfortable. However, this is not the case with Panda's wristcuffs! I'll get into why further down, but suffice to say I definitely plan to order some more for this reason.

All of Rhiann's rings in her photo here are from Panda!

I didn't have a lot of space left on my head thanks to the giant bunny ears, so I opted to style the cute pompom bows by wearing them on my JSK straps. I like doing this, it adds an extra cute element to your dress! Also—yes, the parts inside the shaker necklaces really move around. So fun!

I'm also really into pinning a cute clip to your waist bow at the moment, so that's where I put my little plush bunny clip.

You can also see Rhiann's video about the pieces here. Now let me get into a proper review!

The first thing I have to mention is how impressed I am with the wristcuffs!

Excuse the slightly weird image—here they are turned inside out. The inside is lined with velvet!! I did not know this was an option and now I'm mad at all my other wristcuffs!!! This highlight is probably only relevant to other people who find wristcuffs uncomfortable, but as someone who does, they really were comfy enough to keep on all day which I've never experienced before. I think it's a great example of how much detail and thought goes into Panda San Shop pieces!

I also have to mention the really cute custom lace, which is patterned with bows, candies or stars on each layer!

This necklace is simply too adorable. It has an adjustable chain and has glitter flecks on its surface. I asked for little sax elements to be added as I thought it would be really cute and I think the little hints of it really add to the cuteness! It's a design that would go with a lot of sweet prints, too. Plus the shaker element is so satisfying.

Next up we have the bunny ears ring. This is such a cute design, made of sturdy resin and hopefully you can see in the picture that the bow is also decorated with glitter! I think this is another item that could live in almost any sweet lolita's wardrobe.

The pom-pom bows are also super cute. You can never have too many bows as a lolita and it's nice to have some that offer a bit of texture to a coord as well.

And last but absolutely not least, this adorable plush clip. I love him so much! I can't wait to style this with headbows in the future as it's the perfect size to be worn on the head. Again, it has that nice fluffy texture that adds dimension to a coord.

Thank you so much to Panda for gifting us these pieces, I'm so grateful! Everything is such great quality and I can just tell each piece is made by someone passionate about what they do. I'm really excited to see where the brand goes next as Libby has been teasing lots of fun new products on Panda San Shop's IG stories!

interview with the brand owner

I always love hearing about what drives creativity and creation in different people, so I asked Libby some questions about these topics and the Panda San Shop brand as a whole. Please enjoy!

tell us about your brand!

Hiiii! Panda San Shop is run by me, Libby/Panda and I handmake kawaii jewellery and accessories! My main materials are resin, acrylic and beads, and I love making custom pieces!!

how did you discover lolita fashion?

I actually found out about lolita many years ago, through my sister! I can't remember exactly as I was quite young, but I believe she was doing a textile project and made a brown rectangle skirt. That was my first introduction to the fashion but I didn't re-find it and pursue it until many years later when I was 18 and expanding from fairy kei to lolita!

do you remember the first accessory you made?

Noo I can't remember at all! And I won't have it anymore. I have given away a lot of items I first made to friends. Panda San Shop officially started in 2019 so it was a long time ago! But one of my first wearable accessories were probably the angel wing ring sets! Still a popular item today.

favourite thing to make?

This is suuch a tricky question! I would say mayyybe any "shaker" style piece because it's so satisfying to pick matching fillers and hear the little rattling or see the floating pieces inside when it's completed.

where do you find inspiration?

I find inspo all over the place! I love seeing what's trending in kawaii spaces, like new themes and styles! For example, strawberry cake themes are popping up all over the place since the start of this year! A theme I already love but it has massively inspired me to make more cake pieces again. Also, a lot of my designs come from making jewellery to go with dress prints I own but have nothing to match.

do you have any specific goals for the future of your brand?

Last year my goal was to start selling at conventions which I did! I had my first and second cons which were so so fun and I've booked more for this year because I loved them! It is sooo nice to meet people face to face and let people try things on! Buying in person is such a different experience than seeing pieces online, so I would love to keep attending conventions!

My goals this year are to start making a wider range of items and I've been working hard on making that happen so far! As from right now (start of March), I have my first T-shirt design made and releasing soon, and a second design in the works already!

I would also really like to expand my sewing skills this year! I really enjoy making wristcuffs and bows, but I'm looking into making headdresses too, I've had a few tests so far but there's space to improve before I would say the skills (and confidence) are up to shop standards!

how can people order items from you?

The best way is through Instagram! I do have an Etsy but it is not as up to date. Occasionally I will have story sales or sales post for items that are in stock, but most items are on a made-to-order basis.

People can comment or leave me a direct message to discuss either a MTO piece that they have seen me post/make before, or a totally custom unique piece!

conclusion

One last little moment for how cute these plush clips are!

Thanks for reading this post. I hope you found it interesting! If you were looking to commission custom accessories to match a dress, or find a certain specific colour of wristcuff, now you know where to go!