Fancy Dresscapades: Sailor Neptune cosplay costume review from CosplaySky.co.uk

If you've followed any of my cosplay posts you will know that I like to make costumes, but that I also sometimes like to buy ready made costumes.

I've wanted to make a sailor fuku costume from Sailor Moon for some time but I really wasn't sure I had the skill level to make one. Now there are many cosplay costume shops online and largely they are based in China and when you order online it can be really difficult to know exactly what to expect.

That's why when Cosplay Sky agreed to send me a Sailor Neptune costume to review I jumped for joy! The costume retails at around £30 which is pretty cheap for a cosplay costume (although it is not currently listed on the site).

Lets start with the basics, how does it look?

I should probably start by saying that Sailor Neptune is my favourite scout/senshi so I know her costume well.

Here is a picture of the costume from the website. Generally the accuracy is pretty good, there are no stripes on the collar and the sleeves are the correct style. However the colour of the bows are a little too bright and the star on the neck isn't quite right, but generally its good.

What about in real life?

When the costume arrived I was pleased to find that it was rather like the picture, the colours and style are pretty much the same and the fabric is as expected given the shine you can see in the web picture.

I would say that the white lycra is a little thin on the main bodice section, but the skirt rolls and sleeves make up for this. I am planning on wearing a vest underneath to make solve this issue.

I still think that the colour of the bust and butt bows is a bit off, but lets face it, you can see this colour is exactly as shown in the picture so you do know what you're getting.

What about the quality?

I was actually quite impressed with the quality, the skirting is crepe back satin and the collar and bows are interfaced. As I said the lycra is a little thin, but this is a minor issue.

The costume arrived clean and well packaged and I couldn't find any loose threads which is a bonus.

I would say that the stitching around the collar and sleeves is excellent, but some of the pleating around the skirt is uneven, but its not really noticeable when worn. An added bonus is that the inside seams are all overlocked so you don't get any fraying, but this does mean there is no extra fabric to work with should you order a size too small.

The fit

I have read mixed reviews about Cosplay Sky, several people have stated that the sizes were too big and that the costume didn't fit right. Especially when sending custom measurement.

I sent my measurements so the costume was made for me and I was delighted to see that it fit exactly as I expected. As far as I could tell the bust and waist were as ordered (give or take 0.5 of an inch) and with stretch fabric this isn't an issue.

I also ordered a skirt length of 19 inches. Now this is WAAAAAY too long for a Sailor Neptune costume so I was very interested to see how it turned out. The main reason I had for doing this was that I don't really like my legs so I wasn't sure what length would be most flattering and this way I could alter the length myself to make sure it was just right.

And guess what, I measured the skirt and it was exactly 19 inches - so no complaints from me!

The accessories

The fuku came with several accessories, the bows, gloves, tiara and choker. I found that the gloves were a little too long for Sailor Neptune, but I wore them rolled down so it wasn't a problem. I also found that the choker was too big, but I fixed this with a small stitch to the back. So no problems there.

The bows however, I didn't like. I thought that they were somewhat squished and the top section was way too small compared to the bow tails. They looked okay pinned in place, but I wanted them to be a slightly more accurate colour so I decided to make two new ones in a darker blue and a more even shape. The bows I was sent are completely passable if you're not able to sew, but if you're looking for something a little more 'perfect' then you could change these. Making the bows is quite a nice little sewing project for a beginner by the way.

Here is the finished version with the switched bows and the altered skirt length:

The chocker and the tiara were pretty good in my opinion. Aside from that stitch in the too big collar they were fine. I made a new gem for the necklace out of craft foam to cover the star but again, you don't HAVE to do this.

Neptune Tiara Action!

And here are the gloves:

Clutching my home-made deep aqua mirror. To make the mirror I used the main body of a mirror I found at an antiques fair, its so like Neptune's I couldn't not get it! LUCKY!

I used painted craft foam and hot glue to make the backing. Its not exactly perfect, but I think it has the right effect. I've recently been experimenting with Worbla so I may re-make the mirror back with moulded thermoplastic, but we shall see.