February 17, 2018

[Sponsored] CosplaySky mini review – Jack Sparrow belt buckles!

Hello!

Here comes a quick review of CosplaySky and, more exactly, their German online shop. ^^ If you haven't heard about CosplaySky before they're one of the most well-known online costume stores right now and have been around for years! They're based in China although they have stores catering to different countries (United Kingdom, France etc) and Germany is one of them. I'm not personally from Germany but I've ordered from German sites before, as I can get the gist of what it says (thanks to Swedish being a Germanic language) and ordering from Germany generally tends to be cheaper anyway, haha. 

So yeah, with that out of the way let's get to the review!

This review is of CosplaySky's German store and will be completely in English, I apologize for any inconvenience this might cause. The items that I'm showing in this review (belt buckles) were sponsored, although that does NOT affect my honesty in any way. My reviews are always 100% my genuine opinion.


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Packaging and shipping time 

I'm sorry but I can't say so much about the actual production time as I don't know any exact date for when they shipped the cosplay accessories. ^^" I assume these items were pre-made and thus not made-to-order as costumes would be, anyway.

Shipping took almost 2 months, which is a really long time even for China. I highly suspect though that the Christmas rush affected the shipping time negatively (it was shipped around late November or early December and arrived on late January), so I can't blame it on the company, really. Good thing is that I was not in a rush to get these and so the delay didn't affect me in any way.

The buckles arrived in a bubblewrap envelope directly into my mail box, which is always a plus as it saves me from the hassle of going to pick it up from the nearest postal center which isn't exactly next door. The buckles were not individually packaged or anything, they were all inside and moving around freely but yeah, upon delivery they were all in pristine condition. I spotted no damage anywhere.

The envelope.
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Product quality 

So what I got was three belt buckles that are meant for cosplaying Jack Sparrow from the wildly popular Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Now I need to make it clear that I am not aware of how screen accurate these are, or even what PotC movie these buckles are the most similar to, meaning that I have not graded accuracy into the product quality. The reason is simply because I don't intend to use these for Jack Sparrow (although I love the character!) but for some other projects. :) Jack Sparrow impersonators might or might not find these buckles to be accurate enough but for me they're all I ever wanted – intricate, old-fashion-looking belt buckles! I have plans to use these for some steampunk and pirate-inspired alternative fashion styles. The only limits are your own imagination!

All three belt buckles. Front.
All three belt buckles. Back.
Unless it's not obvious on the photos these are made completely out of metal. They have some weight to them and feel sturdy and like belt buckles should – they actually don't feel cheap or costume-y in any way! Color me impressed.
The color is a bit hard to describe but what comes to mind is some kind of dark/aged brass? It's very dark, the "black" color is dominating but there is definitely this golden sheen going on. I really like the effect it gives, makes the buckles look antique somehow.




Each individual belt buckle is different from the other and they're all very detailed. The backsides are plain and devoid of any fancy patterns.
The prong can be moved freely and easily around the bar and it doesn't get stuck anywhere. The prong is also curved a bit, which makes it rest nicely on the frame of each buckle.

I have not gotten around to making a leather belt and actually trying out these buckles to see how they perform while in use, but I'm pretty confident that they'll do their job.

✣ ✤ ✥    Purchase links below    ✣ ✤ ✥

Link to store's main page: CosplaySky Online Costume Store

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Price 

I think that the price (15€ at the time of writing this) is very fair, considering how rigid and well-made these buckles are. I was positively surprised when I noticed that they indeed were metal and not some god-forsaken cheap plastic, lmao. I don't expect them to break anytime soon. Also, if you consider how much each of these would cost if you custom-made them yourself or had someone else do it for you then yeah, this is a pretty good deal. I can't wait to make belts for these and put them to good use!


That about wraps it up! I'm super pleased with these cosplay accessories and would recommend getting them for anyone who wants to show their pirate side or who just wants some really cool-looking belt buckles for their next fashion project. Some more casual Jack Sparrow cosplayers might also want to check them out. :D Also, these belt buckles look exactly like on the stock photos!

CosplaySky is really easy to deal with and speaks decent English (I can't say anything about their German, sorry) and I would personally deal with them again. Of course they also sell full cosplay costumes so feel free to take a look and see if you find anything that tickles your fancy!


A big thank you goes out to CosplaySky and to you for reading this post!
Shiro Samurai says sayonara.