How to Bag a Bargain – Zaful

I feel like I need to add a caveat here that says perhaps this post should be called How to Bag a Bargain – Zaful?? with the emphasis on the question marks, because honestly? I’m still on the fence with this one. Zaful is just one of the many, many fashion websites out there that you will see popping up on Instagram, Facebook or your favourite bloggers on a regular basis, seemingly promising oodles of pretty frocks and things at what seem to be crazily cheap prices. But is it too good to be true? Well, I thought it only right that I give it a go and see for myself, so I logged in one day to have a peruse and pick out a few items – all in the good name of research of course…!

I’d decided to use it as an opportunity to do a bit of holiday shopping and after HOURS – I’m not exaggerating here, there is sooooooo much stuff – I finally settled on these three items:

Floral Tunic Dress, £21.68 // Wrap Cami Dress, £15.54 // Floral Shirt Dress, £20.71

Now, the first point to make is that you should make sure you fully read their delivery timescales – as per most of these sites, shipping to the UK can take a fairly long time (currently quoted as 10-20 working days) On top of that, they also state that preparing the order can take an EXTRA 3 – 7 working days. Given that this timescale is more than a little vague, I decided to gamble on the fact that it may or may not turn up in time for my holiday, but it did not. This was entirely on me, so I’m not suggesting this is a black mark against them, but just something you should bear in mind – I would always recommend expecting the longest ETA and then if it turns up earlier, it’s a bonus.

At least on my return I had a package to look forward to! Isn’t getting parcels in the post just the best?? Unwrapping them, however, was a bit of a mixed bag. Here’s how my chosen purchases turned out:

The Wrap Dress

As you know, I’ve been obsessing over ruffled wrap dresses for quite a while now, and was very taken with the colour and the ditsy print of this one, which I thought would be the perfect holiday dress. Sadly, it didn’t quite live up to expectations. Erm….

Yes, that is both my boobs and my vagina you can see there. Well, not my actual boobs and vagina because I’m wearing underwear (I’m not an animal!) but you get my drift. This frock was a bizarre combination of a little too generous on the top half, and then seemingly made for a child on the bottom half. I mean, I know the fashion for skirts is a lot shorter these days, but someone please tell me this isn’t deemed as normal?? It does say ‘tiny’ in the product description, but really?? Now, I normally consider myself a savvy shopper, and already a touch skeptical about how good these products can really be, I made a point of reading through the reviews. I even thought this one was a sure bet, because it was reviewed ‘true to fit’ by several people. Just listen to how much this girl loves it:

Is mine just faulty then? I wondered, until I zero’d in on the key piece of information I’d somehow missed originally:

Oh. Well that explains why it isn’t obscene on her. Lesson learnt – always read the measurements!

Verdit: Big fat thumbs down

The Shirt Dress

We all know how much I love a good winter dress, so I thought it would be a pretty safe bet to go with a pretty printed dress that I’d be likely to wear all year round. I went with this one because I really loved the colours in the pattern, and again, previous buyers seemed pretty happy with it. The outcome?

Well, as you can see, it’s pretty much true to the pictures. I’m not in love with the fabric, which is a little stiff, but that’s the risk you take with any online purchase that you haven’t seen in store. I do really like the print, and it is a style I’d wear, but I’m not 100% convinced the dimensions of this are quite right for me. It looks a little bulky I think, and a little too long with too much volume in the sleeves, but I’m confident I can make a few tweaks to it to improve the fit.

Verdict: So So

The Tunic Dress

Despite it being described as a dress I’d actually only ever planned to wear this as a top – I found myself really liking the resurgence of floaty boho tops and folky prints that cropped up this summer so was looking forward to seeing what this one turned out like, and the result?

Thrilled! It’s a bit of a departure from my usual style, and I have to get used to the sensation of being in a tent whenever I bend over (note DEFINITELY remember to wear underwear under this one…!) but I’m really pleased with the overall look. I much prefer a loose, floaty style over clingy these days as I’m not a fan of my tum, and it feels really effortless to wear. I also love the colours in the print which give me lots of options for pairing. I haven’t felt brave enough just yet, but I might even be convinced to try this out as a dress with tights and OTK boots. I’m genuinely considering getting this in the other colourway available, so this one is definitely going down as a win.

Verdict: LOVE IT!

So I really wasn’t kidding when I said mixed bag, was I?? It’s quite amusing to see how it could be both so wrong and so right in just one order! All in all though, it’s definitely clear that there are bargains to be had if you’re cautious and are sure to thoroughly read through the descriptions and measurements and be sure to pay attention to those that have reviews and those that don’t. They do also have a 45 day returns policy, so if worst come to worst, and you make a real doozy of a mistake like me, you do have options. I actually haven’t had the chance to test out their customer service – I actually think I can alter the disaster dress to make quite a nice top (it won’t actually take much which is pretty ridiculous) so I’ve decided to keep hold of it for now. I shall have to write an update on how it goes!

Have you ever ordered from Zaful and what were your thoughts?

Love,