Ordering from Romantic Crown Online

My love for the Korean clothing brand Romantic Crown, to no one's surprise, started with Golden Child. This brand has an overall casual preppy style, and what I love is that most items are unisex; the item pages even show male and female models so you can see various ways to style the product. The Golcha members wear pieces from this brand both off schedule and on schedule, with the most recent occurrence being some of the sweaters from Golden Child's 2022 Season's Greetings!

Since I've blogged about buying from Romantic Crown at their Gangnam flagship store here, I figured I'd also make a quick post about ordering from their online global store.

Romantic Crown has Korean, American (global), Chinese, and Japanese sites. I ordered through the global site, which accepts PayPal for an easy paying method. As a note, I checked out Romantic Crown's Black Friday sale, which applied to the Korean site but not the global site.

Right away I knew I wanted the Preppy Knit Cardigan in Oatmeal, which can be found here. This is the cardigan that Jaehyun wore for the upcoming season's greetings; it works even better because I love cardigans and cream shades (this perfectly describes the piece I bought in their store^^). This cardigan comes in S, M, L, and XL; I chose small. The cardigan is $89 USD, and with only one shipping option the shipping is $38.51 USD.

To make the most of the expensive shipping, I decided to also buy the Woman Lining Knit Vest in Navy, which can be found here. This vest comes in S and M; I chose small. Shipping for both the cardigan and vest together is $56.82 USD (shipping for just the vest alone would have been $38.31 USD).

I placed my order on November 17th. The website updates the the order status frequently so I was able to check when it shipped out. My order shipped out on November 23rd and a tracking number was provided on my shipment email as well as my order page. They used the domestic service Fastbox, which shipped my package within Korea before sending it overseas via EMS. From the Fastbox tracking page, they provided me the global tracking number which I was able to use on both Korea Post and USPS tracking sites.

I received my package via USPS on November 30th. The exterior packaging is a branded plastic bag which adds a nice touch.

My two items came each in their own clear plastic ziplock bag, and each article has their own tag. My cardigan also came with an extra button. As a note, there were no freebies included in my order, while I did receive a sticker sheet in my in-store order. On December 2nd, Romantic Crown posted on Instagram that they are doing a sticker sheet giveaway for their 21FW Child Childhood line while supplies last with links to both the Korean online site and global online site, so online orders do quality for freebies.

Here is the cardigan! This is a size small (as a reminder, this is a unisex piece), and it feels oversized for a comfy fit. I absolutely love the mismatched design, giving a nice spin on a staple preppy cardigan. This piece is definitely my style and it's a bonus that Jaehyun wore it in Golden Child's upcoming season's greetings^^

Golden Child: Ddara Woollim Mall Merch Review

Golden Child came back with their second full repackage album Ddara on October 5th, 2021, and Woollim Mall had quite the turnaround by already announcing the list of official merchandise for this era on October 8th at 11:30AM KST.

Golden Child 2nd Album Repackage [DDARA] Official MD:

• HOODIE (black or white) / 65,000₩ / $55.06 USD
• L HOLDER SET / 25,000₩ / $21.18 USD

Preorders for these items are from October 8th at 2PM through October 14th at 23:59PM KST. This round of merchandise has this preorder window, however Woollim Mall still lists the L Holder Set for sale (as of November 14th).

On October 12th, Woollim Mall also announced a Polaroid event where customers who purchase at least 50,000₩ worth of [DDARA] MD are automatically entered into a lottery to win 1 of 10 Polaroids.

On the last day of preorders, October 14th at 10:02AM KST, Woollim Mall posted a clearer preview image of the merch. Honestly this made me less excited for the L holder set as it confirmed the photos were from the Ddara Version B album shoot instead of perhaps another photoshoot with alternate outfits from the music video.

Again,I'm not really enticed to buy from Woollim Mall for the chance of a Polaroid (because what are the odds). It took a few days for Kpoptown to list both items, but when they did (prior to Woollim Mall's preorder period ending) I ordered from there. On Kpoptown, the Hoodie is $64.90 USD (I chose only to purchase the white version), the L Holder Set is $25.90 USD, and DHL shipping was $29.00 USD, for a total of $119.80 USD. Ordering the same two items via Woollim Mall would have totalled to $132.91 USD.

Both items are expected to ship starting on November 8th.

My friend had ordered hers through Woollim Mall and received hers on November 10th. And as a pleasant surprise, hers arrived with a signed Polaroid! Her Polaroid was wrapped in bubblewrap. 

I received an email from Kpoptown on November 10th notifying me that my package has shipped. My packaged arrived on November 12th!

My package came in a small cardboard box with my merch wrapped in an outer layer of bubblewrap. The hoodie came in a plastic bag packaging that was folded in half, and to the right were 2 air pocket bags to keep everything snug.

Underneath the hoodie is the L holder set wrapped in bubblewrap.

As I took out the hoodie bag, I couldn't believe my eyes! (Cue "내 눈을 의심해"^^) There was a signed Polaroid of Bomin in a clear sleeve taped onto the packaging! I'm seriously at a loss for words, taking in my bad luck with online orders, and then my most recent good luck of receiving my first signed Polaroid not even two weeks ago. I thought I had forgone the chance of winning a Polaroid by choosing Kpoptown, but I'm so grateful it did work out. It's interesting how my Polaroid was packaged like this, as opposed to my friend's with bubblewrap; it makes me wonder if Kpoptown intentionally received the Polaroid and stuck it to my order, or if Woollim Mall packaged the Polaroid like that and Kpoptown left it as is.

Here is a closer look at the Polaroid^^ It's the same background as my friend's Polaroid too; I wonder where and when they took these! And I still can't believe I now have signed Polaroids of my first two biases!

And here are the Ddara merchandise! As a callout, the product sticker is larger and different in design.

Hoodie

The hoodie comes in a black plastic zip lock bag. The product sticker with the holographic Woollim seal is on the front of the bag.

Here is how the hoodie looks straight out of the bag.

And here is the hoodie! It is one size, made of cotton, and comes in either black or white. There is a large kangaroo pocket. The backside is the same color as well. The music video screenshot is of different material from Golden Child's past tops ("One" tee, "Bong Bong" tee, and YES. hoodie), where this time the image feels like the same material as the hoodie itself. Additional details include wide but thin drawstrings with sewn edges with metal openings at the end of the hood, and the DDARA era Golden Child logo at the end of the left sleeve.

Here is a closer look at the image of the hoodie. You can see there is a faint edge between the creamish background of the screenshot and the white of the hoodie. This is the reason I chose a white hoodie, so that the image would be more seamless than a cream rectangular box on a black hoodie.

I always love the branding of Golden Child's clothes and the little details put into them, such as the clothing tag. The tag inside the neckline is the same as the one on the "Bong Bong" tee, with the Game Changer era Golden Child logo printed on it (which is weird since DDARA does have its own font and era logo).

The backside of the hoodie just under the neckline has "DDARA" printed in black with this era's font.

As this hoodie is one size like all of Golden Child's clothes so far, it is quite large and roomy. I'm 5'4" and 105lb, and this is how the hoodie fits on me. The sleeves are quite long that just the tips of my fingers barely stick out, and the body is a nice length that my jean pockets are almost fully covered. The hoodie itself is not too thick and not too thin, so it's nice to wear underneath a jacket if I'm going out in the colder months.

L Holder Set

The L holder set comes in a paper envelope, and the outer packaging is a clear plastic resealable bag.

Here is the backside of the packaging. The envelope flap itself is fully made of paper without any sticky substance so you don't need to risk damaging the envelope when opening it. The center of the flap has the DDARA era Golden Child logo. The new product sticker with the holographic Woollim seal is on the backside of the clear bag.

Here are how the contents were packaged inside the envelope: the 10 posters in age order starting with Daeyeol, and then the two L holders at the bottom.

To everyone's surprise, the two L holders are the same exact image. I originally thought Eline messed up yet again, but on the bright side you can now use one L holder and preserve the other one.

Here is the L holder with the Daeyeol poster inside. Even though the holder is translucent, you can hardly see the image of the poster.

These L holders are made of plastic film and are meant to hold A4 sized documents. The backside has "DDARA" and "Golden Child" printed in this era's font.

The posters are A4 size and are more like large glossy postcards with white backs. The fronts are prone to fingerprints.

Here are Seungmin, Jaehyun, Jibeom, and Donghyun.

And here are Joochan and Bomin.

Overall, I'm really happy that Woollim Mall has been holding events for their various official MD, and even more happy that I can confirm that there are winners for the Polaroid events, especially since they don't notify the winners and it's a matter of properly checking your package to see if a surprise Polaroid made it in^^ I am also beyond happy with both Woollim Mall and Kpoptown for this experience especially when I've had trouble with both companies. As for the Ddara merchandise, I like the variety of practical items (hoodie and L holder) and paper goods (posters). I also like how the hoodie uses an image outside of the Ddara album photobooks.

Ordering My Golden Child Ddara Albums via Ktown4u and Makestar

It's been quite the year for Golden Child in terms of music releases with the group releasing their second repackage album Ddara on October 5th, 2021. On September 23rd just after 3PM KST,Woollim dropped the album details: 2 normal versions (Woollim became more generous this time with offering 2 random photocards out of 50 amongst both versions; there is also 1 random film photo out of 10 amongst both versions). Preorders also opened at 3PM.

Oddly enough I've felt so burnt out with collecting for each era this year (I'm about 50% complete for both YES. and Game Changer normal album inclusions with no hopes of finishing them) that I didn't feel motivated to buy multiple copies this era (which I never thought was possible...). But after some debate, my friend and I decided to order multiple copies from 2 sites and split the pulls for better randomization.

The album is quite large so shipping is higher, so my friends and I didn't want to go crazy on ordering too many albums. I preordered 2 sets (4 albums total) from Ktown4u, which came with 4 folded first press external posters (2 versions) and 4 sets of the first press mini poster sets (2 posters within 1 set) with DHL shipping for about $123 USD. My friend preordered 2 sets (4 albums total) from Makestar, which came with the same first press benefits as Ktown4u plus 1 Makestar exclusive holographic photocard per album, with DHL shipping for about $103 USD. Even though Makestar is substantially cheaper, we figured that we'd get our Ktown albums faster and have better, more randomized pulls than from Makestar.

I had another order from Ktown (the Singles magazine, Eunbi albums, and Etude House cream) which I had preordered prior to the magazine's September 24th release date but still hadn't shipped for weeks. I was getting weary of Ktown, and then on October 11th at 12PM KST, Makestar announced a Ddara 1:1 video call event with an October 14th KST order deadline. I decided to cancel my Ktown Ddara order (which I think prompted for them to finally ship out my previous Ktown order!) and look into Makestar instead. For this second Makestar event, there are no more first press benefits and again there is 1 random Makestar exclusive photocard per album out of 10 (different from the previous event). This time you have to order by the number of albums you'd like (with the versions being random), instead of having the option of buying by sets of 2. I decided to order 5 albums, and with DHL shipping the total was under $123 USD. Like usual, there was a PR event as well. The video call and PR event winner announcement would be posted on October 15th after 3PM KST.

I continued to check the event page and the announcement showed up at about 3:30PM KST. I was shocked to see that I had actually won the PR event! I'm at #8^^ There are 10 randomly selected winners for the PR event, and the prize is 1 random member's signed Polaroid out of 10 taken during the Makestar video call event from October 16th. The Polaroid will be sent along with my order. I also received an email at 3:32PM KST in both Korean and English confirming that I had won the PR event and that the Polaroid would be sent with my album(s) purchased.

The post here on out won't be heavy on details or photos as I wasn't originally planning about blogging about my Ddara album orders.

The Makestar 1 event page stated that they would start shipping on October 8th. My friend's package arrived on October 18th. Unfortunately the cardboard box took quite a beating, with a large hole on the side. Fortunately, everything was inside. Here are our pulls from Makestar 1:

• Makestar 1 exclusive holographic photocards: Daeyeol, Y, Donghyun, and Joochan (daeyoon and dongchan^^)
• Film photos: Daeyeol, Y, Jaehyun, and Donghyun
• Album photocards: 1 Y, 1 Jaehyun, 1 Jibeom, 1 Joochan, and 3 different Bomin

For the album photocards, unfortunately 1 album was missing 1 photocard so we only received 7 instead of 8 photocards. Despite missing 1 photocard, overall the pulls were satisfying since there were no duplicates amongst the 4 albums.

The Makestar 2 event page didn't state when they would start shipping (I think they might only do that for preorders), but my package shipped on October 29th and arrived on November 1st. It actually arrived along with my Woohyun With 1 event order; Woohyun's is on the left and Golden Child's is on the right. Luckily everything looked intact.

I think the Makestar boxes have really upgraded this time (or this is the first time I'm noticing it) but now there is one corner that is held together by thick staples. This applies to both my Woohyun package (top left) and Golden Child package (bottom right).

And now onto the unboxing of my Makestar 2 package! I recorded my unboxing in case my order was incorrect, which I do recommend doing for any package as mistakes do happen. Opening up my package reveals the albums stacked together and wrapped in a layer of bubblewrap, and lying on a bed of air pockets. There was still quite a lot of room in the box but regardless the albums arrived safely.

Flipping the stack of albums over revealed the Polaroid and Makestar 2 exclusive photocards!

Here is everything! The Makestar 2 exclusive photocards each came in their own penny sleeve, then inside another larger clear plastic bag that was taped onto the bubblewrap. The Polaroid also came in a penny sleeve with a sticker label with my order number, name, and winner number that was then taped onto the bubblewrap. The Polaroid definitely could've slipped out as the penny sleeve wasn't sealed shut, but regardless it is here and arrived safely! AND I CAN'T BELIEVE I GOT JIBEOM! I would genuinely be happy with any member, but I'm really extremely grateful for having Jibeom who has been my phone screen background since April 2020 and who has given me so much happiness these past few years^^

I already had this frame but nothing fitting to be framed, until now^^ It still feels so surreal to me!

Here are our pulls from Makestar 2: 

• Albums: 1 Version A and 4 Version B
• Makestar 2 exclusive photocards: Seungmin, Jaehyun, Jibeom, Donghyun, and Bomin (The order was actually Donghyun, then Jibeom, then Bomin, then Jaehyun, and then Seungmin. I couldn't express how excited I was to receive my top 3 consecutively!)
• Film photos: 2 Daeyeols, 2 Ys, and 1 Jaehyun
• Album Photocards: 1 Daeyeol, 3 Tag (1 dup), 1 Jaehyun (same as from Makestar 1), 1 Donghyun, and 4 Joochans (2 dups)

My Makestar pulls have always been bad in terms of pulling duplicates, but this is some luck to have duplicates within my package AND with my friend's Makestar 1 package. But in the end with some trades, it'll all work out^^

Coming up I'll have an unboxing post about both versions of the Ddara albums^^

Golden Child: Summer Breeze 2021 Concert Woollim Mall Merch Review (Part 2 of 2)

While Golden Child's 2021 summer concert Summer Breeze has unfortunately been canceled, official merchandise from Woollim Mall were still released. I blogged about my experience ordering the merchandise here.

The Summer Breeze merchandise includes the following:

• Fan (1 version per member)
• Ice Tumbler & Sticker Set
• Photobook
• T-Shirt
• Poster Set
• Nessring
• Tincase & Photocard Set
• Snapback

I previously blogged about the fan, photobook, poster set, and tincase set here. Below I'll blog about the remaining items that I have: ice tumbler, t-shirt, and nessring. As for the snapback...sadly I don't think I'll ever be able to get it...

T-Shirt

The t-shirt comes in 3 colors: mustard, navy, or white. The color is indicated on the sticker label on the outside packaging. The shirt comes in a silver foil cooling bag packaging.

Here is the backside of the cooling bag packaging. The product sticker and holographic Woollim authentication sticker are on the bottom right of the packaging.

The flap of the bag is pretty adhesive. Opening it up, the t-shirt is inside a clear plastic resealable bag and then folded in half.

Here is how the shirt looks like in its clear bag straight from the cooling bag.

And here is the shirt once the bag has been unfolded.

The backside shows the resealable flap.

And here is the t-shirt! It is one size, and made of cotton and polyester. I like how simple the design is, with the simplistic concert logo at the chest.

Here is a closeup of the concert logo.

I've always really liked the tags on Golden Child's clothes, and this one is no exception! This one is actually identical to the tag from the YES. hoodie, with "GOLDEN CHILD" printed in that era's font and instead of a trademark logo at the end, it has a G inside a circle. They both even have the barcode, as well as the same text in the same font in the center.

Here is the backside of the tee. Again the style is very simple, but printed just under the neckline is the original Golden Child logo.

Here is a closeup of the logo. I love that even though Golden Child may change their logo depending on the era, they do still continue to use their original one.

Like all of Golden Child's clothes, this t-shirt is also quite large and boxy. I'm about 5'4" and 105lb, and this is how the tee fits on me. The fit is exactly the same as the Bong Bong t-shirt, with the sleeves going to my elbows, and the overall length hitting mid-thigh. Out of all of Golden Child's tees, this is definitely the most lowkey and simplistic, and I could definitely wear this to work (though of course I wouldn't because I wouldn't want to risk getting it dirty!).

Ice Tumbler & Sticker Set

The ice tumbler and sticker set comes in a clear plastic box packaging with a Summer Breeze logo sticker on the top to seal the opening. I opened the packaging from the bottom to preserve the sticker.

The backside of the packaging contains the product sticker and holographic Woollim authentication sticker. The sticker set is also visible from the backside.

The ice tumbler was packaged with a plastic base for extra security while inside the box. The removable lid was also screwed on and the reusable straw was placed upside down through the lid.

Here you can see the inside of the lid is pretty thick and sturdy to securely screw onto the cup. I've also placed the reusable straw correctly, and there is that stopper on the bottom half so that the straw can't fall out through the top of the lid.

Here is a closer look at the design of the tumbler. The cup itself has a thick layer, probably to retain the coldness. The design has the concert logo along with splashes of light blue, giving off a pool theme.

And here is how the cup looks like, fully intact! The tumbler itself is about 6.5" tall and the diameter of the lid is 4.25". The straw is about 9.5" tall.

The sticker set comes in a clear resealable bag. There are 3 sheets, containing members' photos from the blue shoot and their printed handwritten names, messages, and numbers. Each sheet is about 4.25" by 5.0625". The sheets are glossy on the front and matte white on the back.

Here are all 3 sticker sheets. Seungmin's message is cute, saying "Seungmin Breeze" with a sun icon^^

Nessring

The nessring comes inside a ring case and is accompanied by a paper bag and a paper card with the concert design matching the tincase set and poster set.

Here's how the paper bag looks like standing up. The front of the bag and top of the box both have this alternate concert logo design.

Here is the backside of the paper card, which has the production information and holographic Woollim seal. It's in the same format as the product card from the Golden Child Bracelet originally sold during the opening of Woollim Mall. Information includes the official product name "SUMMER BREEZE 2021 GOLDEN CHILD CONCERT NESSRING", material "SILVER 925 (Vintage Ring)", and production date of "2021. 07".

Here is the box! The packaging is really minimalist but really cute, with an elastic strand wrapping twice around the box. There is also a bronze disc and bead adorning the strand.

Here's now the bottom of the box with the strand intact looks. 

Here is how the box looks without the elastic strand. The strand was pretty tight around the box and even though it's elastic I'm afraid to overstretch it so I don't think I could put it back on, which is unfortunate since the packaging looked so pretty like that. The box itself is made of sturdy cardboard and is about 2.1875" by 2.1875" by 2".

The lid easily slides off from the top. My heart dropped when I saw the contents inside...a foam pad with 3 slits to hold rings, and NO RING. Everline already forgot my snapback and I already dealt with trying to claim that back; I really didn't want to deal with this too...

It turns out, the ring was pushed all the way down so when I turned the foam pad over, it was sticking out of the other side. There is another foam pad lining the bottom of the box.

The half of the ring peeking out from the foam pad was super shiny and clean and silver. But the other half of the ring looked quite tarnished...here you can see it is tarnished from top to bottom, then it fades to just the lettering having a tarnished look.

Here is another look at the tarnished side. The full ring says "GOLDEN CHILD & GOLDENNESS", but the tarnished part stretches from "ESS" through "GOL" of Golden Child.

Here is a closer look at the tarnish. You can still clearly see the lettering, it's just not smooth or shiny :/ Also you can see the typewriter style the lettering has here, with how the wording isn't straight.

"2021 SUMMER BREEZE" is inscribed on the inside of the ring.

Fortunately the other half is nice and shiny! And honestly this would be the side (with the "&") that I'd want to show off anyways. As for the size, this is the smallest size that they offered, 13, and it fits on either my index or thumb though it is still a bit loose. Because this ring is so precious, I'll be keeping it inside its case on my bookcase^^

Overall, I'm happy that now international fans are able to order event merchandise online, and even though Summer Breeze was unfortunately canceled, it's nice that the photoshoots for the concert didn't go to waste and that we were still able to keep our concert merchandise orders^^ Looking at all the Summer Breeze merch as a whole, I really like the variety of items they released, with a mix of purely Golcha's faces and practical items. My favorite item is definitely the photobook!